"Among other common lies, we have the silent lie -- the deception which one conveys by simply keeping still and concealing the truth. Many obstinate truth-mongers indulge in this dissipation, imagining that if they speak no lie, they lie not at all." -- Mark Twain
For months now, the MSM, in lock step, has portrayed that a narrow majority of Americans oppose The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act. While the polling results to support that statistic are literally reported, the next tier of information descriptive of that opposition goes completely unreported.
Some 50% of survey respondents declare dissatisfaction with the Act. Some 45% declare support. Buried by ABC, CBS and NBC nightly news organizations is the fact that some 10% don't like it because it's too conservative, preferring something more resembling Single Payer. Speculation and some polling efforts have indicated this for months. A mid March poll by CNN is a confirmation. See the CNN poll. Omitting this critical finding does not build trust of the MSM. It steers the public into thinking that a majority of Americans are opposed to health care reform in general.
Support for health care reform in general runs to two thirds of the population or more. Lumping progressive purists opposition with those that favor the Act yields a number more consistent with that observation. Lumping progressives with conservatives in opposition is wildly incoherent. Responsible reporting would result in a conclusion that 55% favor the same or a more progressive version of the Act while 40% oppose any reform at all.
Those that would prefer a Single Payer system don't do themselves any favors by declaring opposition to the Act if the MSM will not report it. Under the ongoing conditions of silence by the MSM, advocating for more on top of the Act is more productive than undermining what good it presages. Whether intentional or not, the MSM makes the case that Americans oppose health care reform, and not just the limp wrist Act that was passed. You may not think that makes a difference, but it does.
With Republicans making hay out of the under reporting of your honest opinion in polls, the drumbeat is built for repeal. Fine you say? Stop and imagine that this misrepresentation fuels the GOP argument that the Democrats do not represent the will of the people and that Republicans do. Consider that if it's repealed, it will be by a Republican majority and Presidency, elected on the back of a misrepresentation of your objections. And just how much harder it will be to pass Single Payer when Republicans hold both Houses and the Presidency?
You, my fellow advocates of Single Payer, have at least a significant caucus of progressive legislators who will back a Single Payer solution if it should find enough political traction. Whether you consider your personal representatives or your President willing enough to make that a reality is up to you. What you might be well advised to do though, is to not make it harder for those that are willing, to pass Single Payer. Allowing the MSM to frame your objections to the Act as identical to conservative socialist takeover paranoia is, just simply, self defeating. You can't control the inner workings of the MSM news. What you can do is soften your opposition to the Act if just to deprive the pollsters of an opportunity to falsify your viewpoints with a lie of omission.
A competent analysis of public opinion on this Act is done by Nate Silver here. The most obnoxious component, by far, is the mandate, a Republican "idea."