Editorial voice from elsewhere
Maybe one of the worst things to ever happen to the public discourse in this country was the proliferation of AM talk radio.
It specializes in creating controversies where none exist and in cobbling together conspiracy theories from evidence that’s supermodel thin.
While it’s perfectly fine for radio personalities and their listeners to engage in such discussions – the First Amendment and all – it is unfortunate when that brand of discourse influences the people who are supposed to make rational decisions about our democracy.
Such was the case when state Rep. Seth Grove, R-Dover Township, issued a statement blaming Gov. Tom Wolf for taxpayer money being used for sex-change operations. His statement, in case the argument wasn’t subtle enough, was headlined, “Wolf wants taxpayer-funded sex changes.”
The horror!
The statement went further, stating “hidden in the 2016-17 budget” – one that, Rep. Grove points out, the governor allowed to become law without signing – “is money to expand Medicaid to cover taxpayer-funded sex change operations.”
Gosh darn that tricky governor!
But on closer examination, there are a few problems with Rep. Grove’s statement.
It is true Medicaid was expanded to cover sex-change operations – operations deemed medically necessary by medical professionals.
But that’s about it.
The biggest problem with blaming Gov. Wolf for this expansion of Medicaid is he had nothing to do with it and can’t do anything about it – even if he felt so inclined, which he doesn’t.
The expansion of Medicaid is a federal mandate, covered under federal law, the kind of law that’s made and voted upon in Washington, D.C., not in Harrisburg.
Another problem is Rep. Grove tries to make it sound as if the governor was trying to pull a fast one by hiding the Medicaid funding in the state budget. If it was hidden, it apparently wasn’t hidden very well.
Rep. Grove argues it’s “hidden” in the budget, but in his statement he questioned whether it even exists and then said later it “wasn’t in any budget document.”
It’s kind of a Mobius strip of an argument, twisting back upon itself.
All of this, again, assumes the governor had anything to do with it.
And yet another problem is Medicaid expansion was included, or maybe not, in a budget that Gov. Wolf did not sign.
Now, the conspiracy theorists among us would say that was part of the plan, that the governor declined to sign the budget to maintain plausible deniability should his nefarious scheme be exposed – not because he thought it was a lousy budget.
The entire thing was a textbook AM talk radio argument – short on fact and heavy on the innuendo and pandering to the lowest-common denominator.
Rep. Grove did say one thing that’s undeniably true: Gov. Wolf has shown support for nondiscriminatory health care for transgender people since he campaigned for governor in 2014.
True. He also appointed a transgender woman to serve as Pennsylvania’s physician general.
And the governor supports extending basic civil rights to transgender people and expanding the state’s anti-discrimination laws to protect gay and transgender people from unjust treatment.
Now, if Rep. Grove wants to talk about an issue the state House of Representatives can actually do something about, there it is.
It is long past time the Legislature expand the state’s nondiscrimination law to cover gay and transgender people.
- York Daily Record