Archives for October 2011

There were two brothers who grew up in a dysfunctional family with an alcoholic father who terrorized the family as they were growing up. The father was physically and emotionally abusive, and it was worse when he was drinking. What do you figure happened to the brothers?

One of the boys grew up to become an abusive alcoholic who created another dysfunctional family. The other brother became very successful and had a loving, stable family. Each brother was later asked why he had become what he was. The alcoholic brother said, “What else would you expect me to be? I grew up watching what my father was and how he treated all of us. Wouldn’t you expect me to start drinking and become what I am?”

About himself, the successful brother said, “What else would you expect me to be? I grew up watching what my father was and how he treated all of us. Wouldn’t you expect me to become just the opposite of what I saw in him?”

The story is apocryphal, but it makes a very true point. You can’t control the facts of your life, but your interpretation of what happens is up to you. The facts aren’t always as important as the narrative you end up believing. In the story, both brothers had the same facts, but their narratives about what happened drove them to opposite kinds of lives. If you’re not happy with the life you have right now, you might or might not be able to immediately change the facts — but you can change the narrative immediately.

I started thinking about this today because of a conversation I had with a stranger a couple of days ago. He’s only 34 years old, but he considers himself a failure. He had big hopes for himself when he was younger. He married the girl of his dreams shortly after she finished law school. He started a business that he thought would one day make him wealthy and secure. He and his wife bought a house in a nice neighborhood with good schools for their future kids to attend. He was set for the future. Or so he thought.

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As a U.S. congressman, Artur Davis parroted the party line about the evils of voter ID. Now that he’s out of office, though, he’s suddenly able to admit the obvious — that voter ID is a reasonable step to prevent fraud.

While Davis was a congressman, he needed the support and co-operation of the black Democratic political establishment, so he took the expected position by claiming that voter ID was an evil scheme to prevent blacks from voting. The argument has never made sense, of course, but things aren’t required to make sense when you’re playing the race card.

In a column in an Alabama newspaper last week, Davis admitted that voter ID is a good thing and says he’s changed his mind. Remarkably, he admits that he was just repeating what was expected of him:

“When I was a congressman, I took the path of least resistance on this subject for an African American politician. Without any evidence to back it up, I lapsed into the rhetoric of various partisans and activists who contend that requiring photo identification to vote is a suppression tactic aimed at thwarting black voter participation.”

Predictably, Davis’ past allies are apoplectic that he’s telling the truth. In fact, the chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus speculated that it might mean Davis is considering becoming a Republican. Obviously, it’s not acceptable to tell obvious truths if you want to be accepted by members of this “club.”

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Most people seem to honestly believe that other people will agree with them on the big political issues if they’ll just make their case a little better next time. They just aren’t willing to admit that we’re badly divided on issues that matter — and we’re never going to come to a consensus.

I’m reminded of this again because of a marketing campaign from a couple of progressive left groups who think they can change the way people feel about the latest government intrusions in the health care system if they’ll just try harder. The new campaign is called “Thanks Obamacare,” and it’s intended to show all the alleged good that will come out of the coming changes in medical and insurance laws.

If you’ll watch the brief promotional video put together by the group and look at its website, it’s clear that the folks behind it have no idea why so many people oppose having the government control more and more of the medical industry. They just stick to the same talking points that are always pushed by proponents of the law. In other words, they’re preaching to themselves. They don’t believe the opponents’ genuine concerns are valid enough to even bother to address.

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