Dear Friends and Family on Facebook

The last couple days there has been a grassroots-Facebook-cutnpaste effort to either enact change in American politics in the healthcare debate, or annoy the sh*t out of people who disagree with the proposals put forth so far.

The following is on about half of the Facebook updates that I've seen the last couple days:

"Healthcare should be a right not a privilege. No one should die because they cannot afford health care, and no one should go broke because they get sick. If you agree, please post this as your status for the rest of the day."

Question 1: Where did this originate? Is it grassroots or more sinister? I suspect that it'll go back to David Axelrod's astroturfing firm in Chicago. Maybe it was an unpaid intern who had an appendicitis? Who knows? I don't, and that's why I'm asking.

Question 2: Do you realize that by cutn'pasting this into your status update you are telegraphing how you voted in the last election? I'm sure some people don't mind putting bumper stickers and wearing Obama shirts everywhere they go - but if you work for someone who is being affected by the current administration's policies - and you were fool enough to friend your co-workers or, worse, management don't be surprised when you're one of the first ones cut in the next round of trimming.

Question 3: Did you cutn'paste that because you sincerely believe it, or are you just keeping in step with the peer pressure of the other people in your circle? That's a legitimate question that I want answered. Peer pressure is an amazing tool. And you're definitely a tool if you're just trying to be cool in the flock.

Question 4: Do you also plagerize your term papers too? The lack of originality in this mini-campaign is even more disturbing than the debate.

Question 5: What are the results? Okay, you sincerely believe in the cutn'paste that all your friends have as your status update. But what happens next? All the sudden the 'Blue Dog Democrats' change their mind and buy out all the private insurers and there's one big happy single payer Universal Health Care system? Really? Is that what you think is going to happen because you put it on your Facebook page? Congrats. That's more dilusional than believing the Democrats were really going to implement a single payer option in the first place.

On the plus side, all these cutn'pastes are better than hearing about how hungry or tired you are - or what level of Farm Wars you've achieved.