if pianos were guns

I enjoy playing piano. It’s fun, it’s relaxing, and most importantly it’s therapeutic. Now let’s pretend for a minute that we’re in an alternate universe…bear with me here. In this universe playing piano has the capacity to kill people, sometimes scores of people at a time. This doesn’t happen every time some one sits behind a piano. If the instrument is handled improperly, it may accidentally kill someone. In particular, if the instrument is handled by a musician with nefarious intentions, it can do catastrophic damage. 

Now being a responsible pianist in this scenario, I would first recognize that my hobby has the potential to cause serious harm to society. This holds true even if I knew I would take great care with my piano. If the government were to impose regulations and restrictions on the sales and possession of pianos, I would have the maturity and judgement to understand its rationale. This holds true even if I knew I would never utilize my hobby for wrong.

I don’t own a gun nor do I seek one. I don’t particularly understand their attraction. I do however, like everyone else, enjoy my own personal hobbies, so I can understand the hesitation one might feel if the state were to restrict an act I solely view as a pastime. But there is no escaping the fact that guns have the capacity to kill people. No one wants to take your guns aways, but smart regulations are a rational measure to attempt to make our society safer. In an alternate universe, I wouldn’t want my pianos taken away. But I would take on the new responsibilities of being a pianist if that’s what it took to live in a safe society. Fortunately, I’m not faced with such a dilemma. Not in this universe.

Hobby Lobby

Disappointing. Embarrassing. Regressing. The Supreme Court’s Hobby Lobby ruling has incited an outcry of dissent. Many have attacked it as sexist and feminist. Others rightly claim it extends more undue rights to businesses. But if there’s one dissent that stands taller than the rest, it’s that of Justice Ginsburg. And out of the thirty pages of her scathing tome, there was one line that struck me. One line that got to the heart of the debate.

“Accommodations to religious beliefs or observances, the Court has clarified, must not significantly impinge on the interests of third parties.”

It sounds straight out of a U.S. Politics 101 textbook. But it works. And it hasn’t been stated enough. I sat down and seriously considered Hobby Lobby’s perspective in this case. Can the state mandate an action that comes before my deeply held religious beliefs? Does the government have the right to force me to act against my belief system? The answer is yes. If my beliefs significantly impinge on the interests of third parties, of course it does.

And the worst part? Ginsburg is referring to a precedent made in a previous court case. Not only do Hobby Lobby’s beliefs against contraception impinge on the interests of everyone of their female employees, but the Court has acknowledged this type of wrong in the past and has failed to recognize it now. Talk about regression. But then there’s always embarrassment and disappointment.

After the Fact: Ignored Health Care Points

Perhaps it’s the absence of a floundering website. Or perhaps it’s the government hitting its goal in enrollments. Whatever the reason may be, the health care debate has long left the national spotlight. Surpassed by missing planes and electoral upsets, it seems Obamacare has entered the coveted annals known only by the likes of the Macarena and shrinky-dinks. Okay maybe its not that bad. And maybe I just wanted to use the word annal in a sentence. But rest assured, Obamacare will once again resurface just as soon as an innocent glitch can be exploited to exhaustion by Republicans. Until then here are a few facts I noticed were decidedly absent from the whole of the health care debate:

1. Bankruptcy due to medical bills

France – 0
Japan – 0
Germany – 0
Netherlands – 0
Canada – 0
Switzerland – 0
United States – 700,000 per year

2. Health Care spending as a percentage of GDP

France – about 10%
Germany – about 11%
Japan – about 8%
Canada – about 10%
United States – about 17%

3. Germany, Japan, etc. practice the Bismarck Model. This type of health care utilizes private non-profit insurance companies. That’s private. Not socialized.

4. Obamacare will still leave about 23 million Americans uninsured.

-credit to T.R. Reid’s The Healing of America