My point is that, right or wrong, that debate is a pointless distraction. Fundamentally, there's no reason for us (the general public, the Congress, etc.) to care whether having a public option would be "fair" to insurance companies. What we care about is whether it's fair to the people in general. Insurance companies and Republicans are trying to misdirect us into debating its purported unfairness to insurance companies, and that's not the point. Sure they care, but the rest of us have no reason to care. It doesn't matter if it's okay that it's fair, or not okay, or whatever. What matters is to get off that ridiculous subject altogether, and talk about what matters, and to do that, I want to clearly point out how they're misdirecting us.

I've done this in person when people have honestly asked, out of genuine concern, whether it's fair to insurance companies to ask them to compete with the government. I've asked, essentially, "why do you care?" and they've thought about it and realized that I'm right, that question doesn't matter so why waste time on it?

Here on my own livejournal I don't really mind arguing that it's okay that it's unfair, but to a broader audience I'd rather focus on the main point: that we're being misdirected into debating the wrong question.