I was recently asked that question, and having just come from a really stimulating presentation on recent insights about the brain (Thanks to Ginny Storj0hann), here’s what I’m thinking today about the emotional content of our national health care conversation.
The current phenomenon of healthcare debate seems to me to be made up of several overlapping and interacting elements, some of which are explained by brain-based change research, U.S. culture and political maneuvering:
1. Fearful reaction to having a Black President and all the changes in status that implies for a great many people (If People of Color are going to take real leadership positions, then the old order in which Whites, no matter what their position in the world, were always socially superior, is shifting).
2. A strong sense that the world is changing in ways that are unpredictable, uncontrollable, and potentially painful.
3. Fear that the government (or any other source of identifiable authority) will dictate important aspects of our lives at a time when many are feeling especially powerless
4. “Katie bar the door” polarity thinking that believes that any cooperation or compromise foretells eventual utter defeat
5. A U.S. cultural bias, rooted in our majority Euro-American heritage, toward individuality that leads many to be innately suspicious of new programs for collective assistance, believing that we are morally responsible to take care of ourselves, rather than falling back on help from others to meet our needs.
6. A resurgence in the long pattern of cynical and historically successful race-baiting and commie-calling by political operatives that oppose progressive change and loss of profiteering freedom.
All of these elements, and more, are weaving together to greatly intensify the natural debate on this complex topic. I think this is likely predictive of the reactions we will face as we confront many more big challenges, such as global climate change, economic restructuring, population shifts, etc. I’m not looking forward to the arguments, invective, and panic behavior we may experience, but it does seem like part of the process of hospicing the old ways and midwifing the new.
Myself, I’m hoping to stay centered on my belief that humans can find our way to ingenious collaborative solutions that will take us beyond the turmoil of these “interesting times” and into a new, more sustainable pattern of living on Earth and with each other.
