The basis for E.H. Carr's international relations classic, The Twenty Years' Crisis:  1919-1939 An Introduction to International Relations, is based on the quest for equilibrium that must be maintained in order to achieve the most in the international arena.  There is constant conflict between Utopian fantasy and cynical realism.  It's a matter of the bureaucrat versus the intellectual.  Both need to compromise.

 What does this have to do with Michael Moore?  Michael Moore makes good documentaries.  His latest, Sicko, is the fourth-most successful documentary in history.  However, because of the way he presents his materials it cannot be a useful tool to enact policy.  

I discussed earlier the need for a balance between Utopianism  and realism, but in convincing people of policy there's a need for good information, passion, but also restraint and good journalism.  Michael Moore's goal should have been to convince people that were not already set on the idea of universal health care coverage.  Instead he further polarized the situation.  First, let's look at one of his choice of subjects:  a single mother who volunteered to clean up after 9/11 who now needs an expensive inhaler each month that she can barely afford.  By choosing her Moore set himself up to be charged with almost insulting manipulation.  He took one of the greatest tragedies in American history and made it a central feature of his film.  To further compound his error, he takes her on a boat to Cuba where they receive immediate medical attention and she receives the expensive inhaler for five cents.  Once again, if he wanted to prove his point he could have taken her to any European country with socialized health care.  Once again, he choose to have her treated in a country that is bitterly antagonistic to America.  He can do better.  The rest of his examples are far more indicative of the health care crisis in American than the 9/11 volunteers and less insulting to the viewer's intelligence.      

If history is any indication, compromises need to be reached unless tyranny is to reign.   If Moore had chosen to present Sicko in a less polarizing way, more would be done.  As those who want a more just society, we need to behave respectfully to those who disagree with us and convince through solid argument and representative examples, not blatant manipulation.