Religion & Law

According to this Atlantic blog post, HHS Secretary Sebelius said that a public option was not essential to the President's health care reform plan.  One administration official later said that she "misspoke" but then added that the public option "is not, in the president's view, the most important element of the reform package."  Another government official sidestepped the question of whether Sebelius misspoke, reiterating that the president believes that a public option is the best way to achieve desired goals.  A third White House official "said that Sibelius didn't misspeak. 'The media misplayed it,' the third official said."

One cannot get a straight answer out of these folks.  To be clear, I am not pointing a critical finger at just President Obama and the Democrats.  Republicans play the same games.  My question is why should we to trust our elected officials (full-time politicians) with important decisions like going to war (Bush) or reforming health care (Obama) when they won't give us straight answers to even the most basic questions.  I don't want to be a libertarian, and I continue to hope that the government can play a role in fostering the common good, but these exercises in misdirection and obfuscation make me skeptical of how large a role the government can play in fostering that good we hold in common.