Turning to the Integrity side of Intellectual Integrity

I read this in Salon this morning, and I thought it would serve us well as I talk a bit about the Integrity side of the equation. Being human as I've been saying, entails our living in Reality through our ideas in a way that's more primary than our biology. The danger in this, is that though our ideas need to feel coherent to us, they can cohere to ideas without cohering to Reality. When this is the case, we could say that such a person is being Ideological. That is, a person in the throes of their ideology, is ultimately invested in the ideology remaining alive, even at the cost of others.

So as we begin looking at the Integrity side of things, we have to discern whether our ideas are cohering to Reality, or are they merely cohering to some abstraction of Reality, which is all an ideology can ever be?

In light of my suggested context, what do you think of this congressman's relationship to Reality? Is it ideological? Or is he practicing Integrity?

Incoming GOP congressman wants his free government healthcare now!

Maryland Rep. Andy Harris is outraged to learn that he'll be uninsured for almost 30 days

BY ALEX PAREENE

AP

Andy Harris

Representative-elect Andy Harris, a Maryland Republican and anesthesiologist, beat his incumbent Democratic opponent by campaigning against the terror of universal socialized medicine. Despite the fact that his opponent voted against healthcare reform, Harris insisted that once elected he would vote to repeal healthcare reform. Now he is elected! And he was shocked to learn that his free, taxpayer-funded, government-run healthcare won't kick in until 28 days after he's sworn in. This made him upset!

“He stood up and asked the two ladies who were answering questions why it had to take so long, what he would do without 28 days of health care,” said a congressional staffer who saw the exchange. The benefits session, held behind closed doors, drew about 250 freshman members, staffers and family members to the Capitol Visitors Center auditorium late Monday morning,”.

Then he came up with a pretty good idea: "Harris then asked if he could purchase insurance from the government to cover the gap...." Yeah -- why can't people just purchase health insurance from the government? Oh, right, because of Joe Lieberman and every Republican in Congress.

"'This is the only employer I’ve ever worked for where you don’t get coverage the first day you are employed,' his spokeswoman Anna Nix told POLITICO." It's funny because lots of people have worked places where you don't get coverage any day you're employed.

God bless the random anonymous aide who exposed this guy as a tool a month before he was even sworn in.

• Alex Pareene writes about politics for Salon. Email him at apareene@salon.com and follow him on Twitter @pareene