Thursday, November 21, 2013

Broken Promise: Not Really.





But is this really true?  Did the government break a promise?

Not really. 

The president and supporters of the ACA may be guilty of pulling a fast one on the American people, but not of breaking a promise.  How is this possible you say?  We all heard the president on numerous occasions lay out several promises regarding the new healthcare law.  We repeatedly heard things like affordability for all, retention of plans for everyone, high quality care for everyone, improved access for everyone, and so on.  Were these not promises you say?

Additionally, we were consistently made to believe the present ails of our draconian and unfair healthcare system would be soon be remedied by Obamacare.  The president’s healthcare law, we were repeatedly told, would guarantee delivery of universally-affordable, high-quality healthcare for all Americans.  We all heard this.  However, as you know, things haven’t gone according to plan.  Many of the promises made by the president are turning out to be false.  But these weren’t really promises.

The promise of a future event or condition that lacks little chance of occurring is not a promise.  If I promised to discover the cure for cancer in two years, no one would believe me, because reasonable minds know it to be false. And thus my promise wouldn’t be accepted as such.  My promise lacks the definable features inherently associated with a promise, one of which is ability to deliver.

With respect to Obamacare, we weren’t really promised all these things – reasonable people knew them to be false.  We were, quite frankly, lied to.  All of the so-called promises made by Obamacare had little to no chance of actually occurring, and thus weren’t really promises.  A promise must have a probable or likely chance of becoming reality.  Did most reasonable people really believe that we could all have our cake and eat it too with respect to Obamacare? 

It may sound like splitting hairs, but it’s important to understand the difference between a lie and a promise.  One has a reasonableness of expected occurence and the other does not. Politicians are fond of “promises” but reasonable people know they are usually just disguised as lies. Learning the difference between the two will serve you well.

2 comments:

  1. Actually this is a really good point. While we the people weren't able to get a clear idea of what the ACA entailed (remember Polosi said they had to pass the bill so we could find out what's in it?), reasonable people knew the so-called promises were just marketing gimmicks. We shouldn't be surprised that more government dictates can't deliver Utopia. This is a well known fact to any sound thinker.

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  2. I just shake my head when I hear people, especially supporters, lament the fact that Obamacare didn't deliver on its promises. I don't fully understand how some people can be such ignorant suckers.

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