Are we Wolverines?

Tonight, I unabashedly watched and cheered Encore Channel’s screening of “Red Dawn” – a film starring Patrick Swayze, Lea Thompson, Jennifer Grey, Charlie Sheen, et. al. directed by John Milius and released in 1984. At that time, our nation was still deeply steeped in the Cold War and we were nearing the end of President Reagan’s first term.

A quick synopsis – Soviet forces manage to punch a hole into our country from Texas to Colorado. A small gathering of high school students band as “Wolverines” and repel the occupying forces. Violence, war tactics, and melodrama ensue with success finally granted to the gritty insurgents.

Pithy erudites dismissed the film as jingoistic and as sappy and predictable as anything filmed during World War II.

Well, shucks. I argue that America was at one of its best periods during World War II. During WWII, everyone was involved and everyone sacrificed. The Hollywood elites supported the cause by producing upbeat movies that inspired patriotism. Our entire population threw in for our victory – rubber, sugar, petroleum, and other basics were rationed to allow our troops to repel tyrannical desires. (I had an earlier post praising the “back home” efforts here:Link to prior post).

So, the movie depicts heroic efforts on the part of high school students to protect our country - so, yes, go ahead and embrace Coleridge’s admonition about “willing suspension of disbelief” as to the students' military success and inspiration from by a plaque citing Teddy Roosevelt: "Far better it is to dare mighty things, than to take rank with those poor, timid spirits who know neither victory nor defeat.“ Oh, and remember that the kids successfully repelled regular army Soviets with tanks and seemingly unlimited munitions.

I’m pretty sure that it would be folly to expect this sort of patriotism from today’s high school students. In truth, I believe (I hope unfairly) that teens wouldn't disconnect from their IPods long enough to consider staging a resistance.

But, I also wonder about all of us. Since World War II, the general population hasn’t been asked to throw in collectively on anything. We borrowed for the Korean War out of the post-World War II “peace dividend” and borrowed our way through Viet Nam, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Let’s face it – with the exception of the individuals and families who provided service men and women, none of us were the least bit inconvenienced by the battles.

The Affordable Care Act has changed the playing field. We managed to take a 30 million person problem and make it a 300 million person problem. As the layers of the onion are peeled, we are starting to see that significant sacrifices will be exacted from all Americans to enact this law.

Despite the sales efforts, it seems that personal health insurance will be affected, limited, and costlier. There is a real risk that incentives to our best and brightest will diminish and there will be shortages of doctors. At some point, somebody or somebodies will have to determine who is too sick to get healthcare. And, at some point, those decisions will be made on the basis of health histories: “oh, he used to smoke, don’t give him a transplant; oh, she’s had STDs, don’t offer her OB-GYN care.”

I’m tossing out some “what-ifs” without question. But, I’m pretty doggone certain about a key thing: as an entire population, we haven’t been inconvenienced by pretty much anything since WWII. I wonder how we will do with the broad costs that are coming from the Affordable Care Act?