I've noticed a common rhetorical ploy being used at every echelon of the health care debate, from the President on down to the local coffee shop loudmouth: the assumption of common goals. I hear "Okay, if you don't like our plan to insure the 40 million uninsured Americans, what's your plan (or the Tea Partiers' plan, or the Republicans' plan, or the Libertarians' plan)?"

Sadly, what usually follows is the conservative debater's attempt to (at best) avoid the question or (at worst) justify conservative solutions by the standards of the liberals. "Well, you see, our plan would eventually cut cost which would then encourage . . . ." Instead, the conservative debater would do well to square off against that opening ploy and deal with it directly before moving on.

That question "If you don't like our plan to insure the uninsured, what's your plan?" is as logical as Scipio saying to the Carthaginians: "If you don't like my plan to destroy your city, I'd be happy to hear your ideas on how to destroy your city. See, I'm willing to listen and compromise! "

Here's a response I've found both persuasive and illustrative:

"I have no plan to order the lives of the 40 million uninsured. I have no plans for how you should run your life, what insurance you should have, or where you should spend you money; and frankly I find it a little creepy that you have a plan for ordering my private life. And let's face it, you don't plan to insure 40 million Americans, you plan to force the other 250 million Americans to do it."

Happy Hunting.

Cory Genelin