Michael Moore, Patriot

Nothing makes me happier than seeing Michael Moore banging his fists and dressing down CNN’s Wolf Blitzer. Somebody’s got to do it. Not that I have anything against Blitzer specifically, but as an iconic member of the news media it took Blitzer and his counterparts years to finally ask the hapless, incompetent Bush Administration the hard questions that might have prevented the Iraq war in the first place.

As Moore pointed out to Blitzer in yesterday’s interview, they never asked “why”. Why were we going to Iraq? Why was there no plan to secure the country? Why was there no international support? And on and on.

At this point, the Bush Administration couldn’t find it’s way out of a cardboard box. And all but the most frightened, reticent, inflexible conservatives have concluded that Bush and his team are the most lame, corrupt and disastrous leaders of a lifetime.

But Moore and others knew this long ago, and their criticisms were either ignored or trivialized by Blitzer and his peers for the sake of political access while at the same time sacrificing truth and journalistic integrity.

Those who criticize Moore usually miss his point. Moore isn’t trying to be “fair and balanced” in his documentaries. He’s not a newsman - he’s a truth teller. Truth doesn’t always have or need two sides, despite the typical talk-show debate format we’ve all become accustomed to. There are issues that are so screamingly obvious and so tragically critical that it becomes imperative to place them squarely in front of the public and put them into sharp focus. Sure, he’s also an entertainer, but that’s what makes him such an effective communicator.

It’s almost comical to listen to the shrill, whiny voices of the status quo criticizing Moore. They almost always attack his appearance or label him with vague generalizations like “liberal nut job,” but seldom do they actually address his issues. Even CNN consultant Dr. Sanjay Gupta, who recently produced a critical piece on Moore, eventually had to admit that Moore got the overwhelming majority of his facts right in his recent movie “Sicko.”

For those who are too wealthy to use insurance, too poor to afford it, or too healthy to have yet needed it, “Sicko” exposes what the rest of us already know. That our health care system is a disastrous, disgraceful scam. It is hopelessly bloated and ineffective, except when it comes to making its top industry executives grotesquely rich. It delivers one of the worst care products among developed nations at the highest price. In other words, the system is horribly broken.

As a progressive visionary, Moore has put this truth into sharp focus. We don’t need to hear from executives from Big Pharma or the HMO industry to understand why the system is a mess, just as we don’t need to hear from the hijackers to know that 9-11 was an abominable slaughter.

If more Americans questioned the status quo, if more Americans held their politicians accountable, if more Americans denounced lobbyists and influence peddling, if more Americans were critical of the authorities and institutions that have such a direct impact on our lives, we would have a higher quality of life, greater liberties and a safer world.

Michael Moore has always known this, and has always put his money where his mouth is. I challenge his detractors to make their own films. They might be able to find a few people who like our health care system. They might be able to find a few citizens who think that Bush has done a good job. They might even be able to find a unicorn. But the fact that nothing has been done along these lines – that no compelling counterpoint exists to Michael Moore – tells us all we need to know. Michael Moore is telling us something extremely important. If that’s not patriotism, I don’t know what is.

- JT Compton

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