I was just reading a post over at It ain't all pizzas and cream and it got me to thinking again about the lack of empathy shown my so many people in this healthcare debate.

I've been thinking about this a lot recently. And while I think that a lot of what Charlie says is indisputable (esp. re: racism), I think that a large part of the problem is the overwhelming and incredibly misplaced belief that the market is king. We seem to believe that regulating industry, any industry, will compromise capitalism.

What follows is that we are taught, from birth, that us that we are, each of us, THE MOST IMPORTANT PERSON ON EARTH and come hell or high water we are not going to let anyone or anything impinge upon our "god-given right" to a. assert this in any way possible and b. make as much money as we possibly can. And while we are all special, none of us has more intrinsic worth than another.

As much as I loathe to say this, I think that part of the problem is also the displacement of church, or more accurately, community and fellowship, as a mainstay of our life. I don't mean a belief in god or Jesus because I really don't think that there are really that many more non-believers than there ever were, but a gathering place where people meet one or more times a week for their entire lives. The fact that we don't know our neighbors means that it's easier to blame them than a corporation, which many times we see daily on TV or in print ads and may identify, due to marketing, as a friend, or at least as having our best interests at heart.