Return Your Seat Back and Tray Table to their Upright Position

If you have flown before, this analogy will resonate. At the beginning of every flight as the plane is taxiing away from the gate, the flight attendants jump into action and regiment a set of procedures that we all could probably recite right now.  First they tell us to, “Return your seat back and tray tables to their upright position.” Then they tell us what to do if there is a crash landing on water (they never tell us what to do if it crashes into a mountain; however, I wonder why).  At some later time in the presentation we are told what to do if we are to lose cabin pressure; pull the oxygen mask towards you and place it over your nose.  If you have kids or if there is a young child next to you (which gets to the point of my analogy), first place the oxygen mask over the child’s nose then tend to your own needs. Am I right about that? Those of you who are frequent flyers are saying right now, “Actually Danian, you are wrong about that; first the adult puts the oxygen mask on and then attends to the child.” If you noticed my dyslexia in reversing who gets the oxygen mask first in the adult-child scenario; my hats off to you, because you may be the only person actually paying attention (we all should be) in the whole flying community.

All kidding aside, have you ever wondered why that is? After all it seems so selfish (at first glance); an adult reaching for the oxygen mask and taking care of themselves before considering the needs of the child. Shouldn’t the child come first? Well I would argue that democrats in congress are experiencing a similar type of dyslexia as they pursue healthcare reform.  And at a first glance it seems so noble, like the adult who would first places the oxygen mask on the infant. Who would dare argue against giving health insurance to people who don’t have it: only the most selfish and despicable human being right? Now I would go as far as saying that most people (democrats) who are in favor of reforming healthcare as prescribed by Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, do so from a noble and clear conscience, but is it wise? By the way, I would not go that far with the President; he is motivated by his own self-interest. [1]

The answer: Why put the oxygen mask on yourself before tending to the child? You do this because if the cabin loses pressure, you could lose consciousness in less than twenty seconds; in saving the child first you could both die. Save yourself first and you both live. It turns out that the noble act of helping the child first is incredibly stupid. I have little or no compassion for a parent or adult who would help the child first against the instructions of the flight attendant, thus causing both to die in the process.

Well my fellow Americans, our economy has lost cabin pressure, and we are all about to lose consciousness - many already have lost consciousness, to the tune of a 10% unemployment rate. But against the wishes of the American people, to first shore-up the economy, and reduce the unemployment rate, our president and the democrats in congress have decided otherwise.  In the middle of a recession our president has decided to ignore the people who could really solve our economic woes in favor of “helping” those who can’t right now; essentially giving the oxygen mask to the child first. I say this with all due respect to the presidency, and to my fellow Americans who support this healthcare bill (during a recession), “You are incredibly short-sited, and you are a fool. Your folly will be to all our undoing.”

How about this for an idea: Let us first get Americans back to work, thus putting us in a better position to help our fellow citizens without health insurance; essentially putting the oxygen mask on the adults first. I suspect in so doing, reducing our unemployment rate from 10% to say 2%, the big mountain that is healthcare reform will be reduced to a mole hill. That is of course if your true motivation is to help others and not to help yourself. 

Danian Michael,
Political Agenda
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Footnotes:

[1] In an article by Glen Rush of The Politico titled, “Obama's pitch: Fate of presidency on the line,” Glen reports from a very good source, a member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus that, “Obama won him over by essentially [saying] that the fate of his presidency hinged on this week’s health reform vote in the House.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0310/34602.html