On PBS's “McLaughlin Group,” a broadcast taped on August 14 noted that 35% of independents now sympathize with townhall protesters against Obamacare. This one-in-three statistic represents a shift away from support for the President among independents. Here's a two-pronged study I'd like to see: do independents have a lot trouble choosing their underwear, too? And what kind of person calls himself or herself an independent, anyway? There are various political parties to choose from, and while none of them is either perfect or all-powerful, neither is the individual who opts to sit on the fence. Not to decide is to decide—and how is that good for America? Like it or not, changes in government policy come through organized political parties. I say, get in the ring and fight! Or, if you prefer a less violent metaphor, claim your place at the table and join in on the family debate.

One concern that many express about a public health care option is that it would lead to their tax dollars paying for abortions—a problem for which, by the way, Catholic Democrats in Congress have proposed a solution. (Amy Sullivan recently wrote about this in TIME magazine.) Here's a study I'd like to see: how many people opposed to abortion for religious and philosophical reasons are already paying for them every time they buy private health insurance?

According to a poll discussed in Newsweek magazine by Sharon Begley, most Americans claim that their number one health care conviction is that “decisions about my health care should be between me and my doctor and no one else.” Here's a study I'd like to see: how many of these same people believe that this same right extends to pregnant women? It seems to me that there is more than one slippery slope to worry about here. If the government is allowed to tell you which human life is more valuable than another when both are in jeopardy, how else will the government start over-riding personal conscience in questions of life and death?

Jonathan Alter reports in the latest Newsweek that half of all personal bankruptcies are caused by illness. This one is especially real for me because bankruptcy just happened in the past year to one of my first cousins, an ordinary blue-collar worker in a middle-sized Kansas town. So here's the study I'd like to see: how many current opponents of health care reform would change their tune if they were among the sick people going bankrupt?

Popular wisdom holds that a public option in health care reform would be evil because it smacks of socialism. Here's a study I'd like to see: why does socialism work so well for US Catholic nuns? Believe me, I've got the best health care plan in the world, and I've been plenty sick ever since living in a heavily polluted part of Russia where I lived during the 1990s.

The latest Sierra magazine reports that Denmark gets a fifth of its power needs met through windmills, while the US gets only 1.5 percent of its energy the same way. Here's a study I'd like to see: is the average Danish IQ greater than the average American IQ?

Finally, Michael Grunwald of TIME magazine reports that China plans by 2010 to be the world's largest producer of renewable energy. The country has already halved its rate of erecting new coal-burning plants, and a recent survey shows that 94% of the Chinese citizenry want their government to take action against global warming. By contrast, only 44% of Americans want the same of their government. So here's the study I'd like to see: with the alarming number of GOP leaders and followers who believe neither in global warming nor in evolution, is the GOP part of some secret Chinese plot to dumb down America and take over the world of scientific and technological progress? In other words, is the GOP the Manchurian Party?!

Sources

Jonathan Alter, "Health Care as a Civil Right." Newsweek, Aug. 15, 2009.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/212162

Sharon Begley, "Attack!" Newsweek, Aug. 14, 2009.
http://mobile.newsweek.com/detail.jsp?key=55020&rc=he&p=0&all=1

Michael Grunwald, "Can Energy Secretary Steven Chu Get Americans to Care About Global Warming?" TIME, Aug. 22, 2009.
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1916078-1,00.html

“The McLaughlin Group,” PBS, Aug. 14, 2009.
http://www.mclaughlin.com/library/library.htm

Dan Oko, "A Short History of Bright Ideas." Sierra Magazine, Sept.-Oct. 2009.
http://www.sierraclub.org/sierra/200909/ideas.aspx

Amy Sullivan, “Threading the Abortion Needle.” TIME, Aug. 14, 2009. http://swampland.blogs.time.com/2009/08/14/threading-the-abortion-needle/