In "As You Like It" William Shakespeare wrote, "All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players: They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts."
Amazingly, the bard's telling verse still seems relevant today.
He could have written it after the most recent incarnation of reality television - President Barack Obama's national health care town hall meeting.
But when you have patently staged questions and falsely modest answers, no one buys the line.
At least the easily influenced tools of ignorance who bring guns to town hall meetings or shout down supporters of the new system have genuine emotions.
They may be ignorant. They may be buying the lies and perversions of those who are fighting against the institution of nationalized health care.
But their emotions are real.
About his own town hall performance in New Hampshire, Obama said, "I don't want people saying I just have a bunch of plants in here."
Really?
Let's look at a few of the non-planted questions.
• Eleven-year-old Julia Hall asked, "How do kids know what is true, and why do people want a new system that can - that help more of us?"
• A state representative asked "I think it's a wonderful idea, but my question is, if the Republicans actively refuse to participate in a reasonable way with reasonable proposals, isn't it time to just say we're going to pass what the American people need and what they want, without the Republicans?"
• A Medicare recipient in the crowd asked, "Mr. President, you've been quoted over the years -- when you were a senator and perhaps even before then -- that you were essentially a supporter of a universal plan. I'm beginning to see that you're changing that. Do you honestly believe that? Because that is my concern."
• A teacher asked, "I've been lucky enough to have very good health care coverage and my concerns currently are for those who do not. And I guess my question is if every American who needed it has access to good mental health care, what do you think the impact would be on our society?"
How could Obama stand all of that heat?
Basically, these non-plants asked the sum total of one question, "Mr. President, you are so great and so wonderful, shouldn't we just pass this incredible health care bill whether your opponents like it or not?"
It made for a good show. But it was about as real and unscripted as "Keeping Up With the Kardashians."
It's easy to see why the man trying to become the President who finally enacted a national health care system would feel the need to redirect the argument.
The proponents of the new system may have already lost the argument.
Not because they were wrong, but because those who stand against the idea of nationalized health care have changed the course of the debate.
No one is discussing practical issues like providing a standard of care to uninsured Americans. Obama had to tell people he didn't want to kill their grandparents or handicapped children.
Seriously, that is part of the debate.
Have similar European and Canadian plans have resulted in death panels?
Instead of valid discussions about issues that need to be understood, we are talking about death panels.
You can't turn a train, but you can derail it. That's obviously the plan - and it's working.
If this debate continues with pandering pundits and misty-eyed mavens planting seeds of insurrection in the fertile ground of the compromised minds of true believers, the goal of offering care to every American at some basic level will remain on the horizon.
But staged summits won't put the train back on its tracks.
There is a reason the Harlem Globetrotters aren't considered one of the great basketball teams of all time. When losing is not an option, winning won't secure the prize.
Obama will have to roll up his sleeves and take on top opponents in a direct confrontation.
He will have to face the chance of losing if he expects to be able to win.
Kent Bush is publisher of the Augusta (Kan.) Gazette.
