The need for leadership with class and honor to match their hubris has been in existence for a long time. At the current moment, as has happened many times in the past, the quality of leadership- from Wilson to Grayson, and Beck to Olbermann, vapid partisan noisemaking appears as virulent and infectious as the Swine Flu.

It is always difficult to not panic and declare the end of journalism, the fall of American Democracy, the coming apocalypse in 2012, or what have you. There have been questions about the virility of the American Dollar before. Similarly, as President Obama has pointed out, FDR faced much of the same rhetoric 70 years ago about health care in America.

What is needed is more leadership like that of President Obama, of Senator John McCain. And Ms Noonan is right, elders are needed to set the standards and hand down the lore.

O judgment! thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason. Bear with me;
My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar,
And I must pause till it come back to me.
-Shakespeare, Ceasar III, II

Right to Life?

The right to life is the preeminent right mandated by the American Declaration of Independence. Deeply ingrained in the psyche of the American people, there is no greater task of the government of the United states than to protect the lives of its citizens. Medical procedures with the potential to lengthen sharply the lifespan of American Citizens are therefore historically and practically important.

A recent study on mice controlling a particular protein genetically puts a potentially pressing matter into focus: what if only some people could afford this treatment? People have always received medical treatment and care in proportion to their power, wealth, and political status. The amount to which there has been outrage from the less well-off has varied in the past. However, if the future holds a series of procedures that can undeniably alter a select few people's lifespans by a dramatic amount, there will be discord.

If living in the "rich world" will mean living to 100, and everyone elsewhere knows it, what will happen? While clearly the separation is already quite drastic, imagine if the gap between the rich and poor countries doubled in a short period of time.

With reference to the current raucous noise about health care in the United States, what if instead of rising premiums and falling services, most Americans could be angry about the loss of their right to life?