OVERVIEW: When attempting to prove a point, attempt to balance and share both opinion and factual statements. You must explain your thought process by saying "why". Give a clear explanation for "why" you reached your conclusion. Justify your conclusion with supportive evidence. Do the research and find articles in support of your conclusion. Find support for your opinion and always locate (at least one) resource that agrees with you. Your argument is made even stronger when you present an opinion from the other side and then refute it. There are many articles written in support of opinions on both sides of the fence. Identify your sources. State your points in a way that differentiates your opinion from factual statements AND support both facts and opinion with reliable references. Paraphrase! Cite your resources and use those references as a part of your explanation of ‘why'.
Use the Kingdon concepts as a guide to provide structure for your response and your conversation.
THE CASE: The use of "The end justifies the means" dates back to the Greek playwright Sophocles (c. 409 BC) who wrote, "The end excuses any evil". In 1894, a doctor by the name of M. Price read a paper to the Philadelphia County Medical Society in which he referred to "the proverbial kinds of falsehoods, 'lies, damned lies, and statistics.'" The fact that he referred to the phrase as "proverbial" seems to imply that it was familiar at that time. Mark Twain published "Chapters from My Autobiography", in the North American Review, No. DCXVIII, July 5, 1907 and paraphrasing a remark credited to Disreali wrote, "'There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.'"
Watch Obamacare: Voters, are you stupid?, by Jeremy Diamond on CNN, 11/18/2014. The media called attention to the statements made by Jonathan Gruber about the amount of transparency before the vote passing the legislation known as Obamacare.
1. a. Share your opinion: Did the policy leaders use the utilitarian premise of "The end justifies the means" to get the policy known as Obamacare passed?
b. Was the leadership justified in their actions? Locate at least one other source that agrees with you, and in a couple of sentences provide a summary of the supporting position.
c. Locate at least one other source that disagrees with you, and in a couple of sentences provide a summary of the opposition position.
2. Describe another situation as an example of a case when you think it can be said that "lies, damned lies, and statistics" were used to create (or stop) health care policy?
3. Suggest a philosophical premise that you think provides a better basis for making public policy.