Lack of transparency is a huge political advantage…Basically, call it the stupidity of the American voter or whatever, but basically that was really, really critical to getting the thing to pass. [Emphasis added.]
– Prof. Jonathan Gruber, who was paid $392,000 to help write ObamaCare

If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor. If you like your plan, you can keep your plan.
– President Barack Obama

It may be that you can’t fool all the people all the time, but you can fool enough of them to rule a large country.
− Will Durant

Look at the quote at the top of this column. The man frankly declares that in order to push his agenda, he feels free to conceal the truth. He may be an effective political activist, but who could possibly see him as a reliable source of factual information? Who? I’ll tell you who – the editors of the New England Journal of Medicine. They just published an article co-authored by that very man.
The article purports to explain the outlook for ObamaCare, the “Affordable” Care Act. Yes, the editors favor the law, just as they favor all “progressive” efforts to empower the government to control people’s lives. But is this sufficient justification to publish the work of an admitted prevaricator?
Question: If we can no longer trust socio-economic articles in the New England Journal, how can we trust scientific articles? This is not a rhetorical question – I don’t know the answer.
Politics and science make a toxic mix. Can I believe what scientific journals say about health-care laws? Can I believe what scientific journals say about global warming – or anything else? Only thoughtless, defenseless sheep would accept uncritically what biased, agenda-driven “authorities” spew out. Only hungry coyotes would seek to take advantage of their credulity.
There is an old saying that when the clock strikes 13, it casts doubt not only on that, but also on everything that went before. Could we trust it when it struck 10 or 11? Who knows? Trust takes years to build, but only a short time to destroy. And when it’s gone, it takes years to rebuild – or, if we are lucky, a new administration.
Here is a Nov. 18 headline:

Iraqis Cheer “Truth-Teller” Trump, Hopes of Crushing Isis

Do you think, just possibly, that there may be a clue here to the results of the recent election? Do you think, just possibly, that the American voter isn’t quite as stupid as Prof. Gruber supposes? Do you think, just possibly, that the American voter isn’t quite as stupid as Prof. Gruber?
Granted, Donald Trump sometimes talks too much. Perhaps this is to make up for those who talk too little, or not at all, when bad things are happening to our nation.
Donald Trump sometimes talks too loudly. Perhaps this is to make up for those who mumble hesitantly instead of speaking out boldly at injustice.
Donald Trump sometimes uses broad gestures. Perhaps this is to make up for those who sit with folded hands and do nothing as they see their country go downhill.
Donald Trump sometimes uses crude language. Perhaps this is to make up for those who cannot even name our enemies, but who use weasel-words like “workplace violence” to describe a radical Islamist, terrorist attack on an Army post.
Donald Trump sometimes acts gruffly. Perhaps this is to make up for those who abandon their people in an hour of danger. (Benghazi? That’s old news.)
Donald Trump sometimes speaks bluntly. Perhaps this is to make up for those who lie habitually, lie easily, and lie even when we know they are lying – just to rub our noses in it. (The Benghazi attack was caused by a video that nobody saw? What difference, at this point, does it make?)
With all due respect, Prof. Gruber, maybe lack of transparency is not such a huge political advantage after all. Maybe, in the end, it is a huge political disadvantage. Maybe, as a result, a blunt-spoken man was elected. Maybe people are so sick of the self-anointed “elite” telling them what is good for them that they elected a man who at least seems to be looking out for their interests.
Maybe, after eight years of lack of transparency, we elected a man who is almost too transparent. And maybe the slick con artists have no one but themselves to blame.

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