Just as I suspected: Michael Moore is not an effective debater

I was watching a 20/20 report (I haven't watched that show in years) called Sick in America - "Whose body is it, anyway?"

Actually, I lied. I was watching the football game but the Montreal Alouettes were being spanked by the Edmonton Eskimos and I became irritated by the abysmal performance.

Da bums. Moving along.

It's nice to see some reporters actually remind people of the benefits of the private sector. It's not all doom and gloom on the private side. We've been fed such a heap of rotten hay about the only the bad side of privatization that it has skewed and warped our ability to comprehend basic laws of economics.

Apparently, everything government is good. After all, they are there to look after the collective good. It is claimed that our public system is compassionate. Everything we have is great - in theory. Let us not further forget that government is made up of, you guessed it, humans. And as humans we are flawed.

Government regulating many facets of our lives is paternalistic and elitist. Think of it. They are saying people can't do this or that or can't be trusted for that or this because, well, we're stupid and immoral.

The government is a one-way ticket to being stagnant and inflexible. It lacks innovation and we all know about the obscene wait lines. What do you get when you have a society dependent on government? One that fails to take responsibility for its own actions. As the system cracks, we look to, who else?, the government to solve it.

Here's the rub. They know public health is cracked. They are clueless and don't have any ideas about what to do about it. For this, they are looking to the private sector for solutions - all under the table of course.

This is not a partisan issue. It's about having the right to choose like we do any service or product.

There will be a moment of truth. It's not a matter of if but when. Canadians will have to realign their values and how they view public health. We can make it as painful or painless as we like - but it will happen.

In Canada, people are terrified about the private health care revolution under way because they do not understand it. They have a misinformed vision of the American system and its alleged immorality. And don't look to many in the media for help on this front. Only the really forward thinking journalists who don't buy into all this "public is better"mantra.

Am I suggesting there is no room for public services? Absolutely not. What I am saying is that there is room for a more active role from the private sector. The benefits to this are numerous.

Canada has the tools, talent and highly educated and trained doctors to make this work. They deserve a chance. We deserve a chance at something better. That is, if we truly are progressive as we claim to be. It's neither a bad thing to be pragmatic.

Now, I am well aware of the criticism surrounding John Stossel - the man behind the report. He's seen as a mouth piece for the right in some circles. Was it objective journalism? Probably not. But it made a whole lot of damn sense.

Which brings me to Michael Moore - who makes little sense. One way to judge an "activist" who holds the "truth" is to see how he or she can effectively argue the views they espouse in a conversation or debate. Maybe 20/20 is guilty of editing (but hey Moore does the same thing so hmpf) to make Moore look foolish. The again, it would not surprise me if he was naturally this way.

It was funny. My wife was watching it too and she's pretty much a-everything. She had no opinion of Moore. Her face was priceless as she listened to him.

"This is the guy people believe is enlightening Americans?"

Yes. Moore is a hero to some. For about a year I've listened to him paint a favourable picture of the Canadian and Cuban health system. What else can I say? He's wrong. In fact, to us Canadians who are very concerned he does us no favours.

The one thing that caught our attention - among sooo many - was how he half-assedly linked the notion of Canadians having a public health care system with living longer. It was an incredibly ignorant statement. He clearly did not do his homework.

He's not so tough or smart without his camera and an editing floor.

It is jerk-offs like him who never sat through our public system. If anything, it increases stress levels. I just had a friend tell me they waited nine hours to see a doctor for their sick child. Real healthy and normal.

One final thing: do you think for one minute Moore - with all his money - would ever go through a public anything? Send him a letter. See if he would ever put his money where his mouth is. Would he ever seek help in Cuba? Would he ever fly to Canada?

The reverse is what happens. Moore will go where ever the best services are and that usually means keeping his plump butt in the United States.

Look, it's all the rage now: Bash America. Throw Bush and Cheney in the mix and it's easy to see that the empire is about to collapse. Compare it to Rome and Vietnam. 9/11 was an inside job. And so on. It's a trend and Moore is milking it for all that it's worth.

They say people buy whatever the government tells them. They also buy whatever secular leftist celebrities sell just as equally.

I never see any solutions offered by him. Which makes him part of the problem. And why should he offer one? He profits from it. For this, he is smart.

Regardless, one thing is for sure. Things are not as bad as we tend to paint them to be.

And Rome, for the record, stood for a thousand years. We're a couple of hundred into the American republic.