When Is It OK To Disagree?

A friend recently left a link on Facebook that I have kept open for several days. I've read it and re-read it. I've wondered if I should post it here and talk about it, but in the end I feel that I can't NOT share it. (Uh, double negative. Impressive. not)

This article, from The Denver Post.com, by Mike Rosen, tells an interesting story about how Democrats whined and complained about being "heard" before the election in November, but now that they have a voice in Obama that dissenting opinions are being pooh-poohed and purposely left out of the debate on health care. (Go read it before I comment.)

Back? OK.

I know I don't often get into political debates here, and I don't necessarily want to now, but I can't see how packaging this health care 'debate' with only supporters can help anyone. According to the article "busloads of Democratic activists bused in from the Front Range passed them [Republican ticket holders] by." Really?

According to what I've heard from places like whitehouse.gov, the President wants to hear from all sides of the dabate. Even Loralee and her husband were able to weigh in on healthcare with an audience from the White House. That's fantastic, given all that they've been through. I'm glad that they both had the opportunity to speak their minds. What I don't understand is not allowing people (Republicans) to even see the speech. (I'm guessing that the Republicans in question didn't agree with the president on this one.) An event to which they actually had tickets for. I'm certain that this is not an isolated incident.

It seems that giving lip-service to "other views" and actually allowing them a voice on the same stage don't go hand in hand.

This is not about health care. It's not about what your views are, (or my views, for that matter,) but it has everything to do with the transparency that we are not getting from the Obama White House-that we were promised, or from the left-wing media that hails him as some kind of teflon leader.

I wonder what happened to "Free Speech"? When did it become a reportable offense to disagree with the President? I would hope that more people would disagree and stand up for what they think is right-or at least be able to join the conversation, then we might actually be able to get somewhere with some of these issues, versus only having a one-sided debate. Where I come from that's called rhetoric and propaganda, and unless we have actual debates and voices for all sides of an issue, it's not America, either.

PS- It seems as though I'm not the only one that sees this in the Obamacare campaign. You can read what I mean in Erin's post on BlogHer, and don't forget to read the comments! This one gets me the most... "...We're going to get this done. One way, or another." Wow. Last I heard president's don't make laws....