My friend's illness in 2007 made me realize how important it is that all people in this country be provided good health benefits. She suffered for months because she did not have health insurance, and was at the mercy of a system that cares first if you can pay, and cares last about the patient.
Right now, an attempt to derail our best hope to get healthcare reform passed, is being led by the Republicans, with the help of the big healthcare industrial complex and some cowardly Democrats. The opposition has an endless pool of money and lots of lobbyists making sure that their best interest is preserved. And while the Republicans do their masters bidding, children in this country die because they have no insurance, seniors die because they have no coverage, young people who cannot afford to pay for insurance and have out grown their parents coverage are vulnerable.
We should all be mindful when we see the disruptive forces that were unleashed in town hall meetings where discussion based on facts were to take place. The Republicans have a history of shouting down the truth. Let's not forget that they did the same thing when they took us into wars that have driven us into debt and taken thousands of our children's lives.
Let's be clear about one thing, this is not about illegal aliens getting free healthcare, this is not about some insane plot to kill our grandparents, this has nothing to do with a government take over of our choices -- this is just another Republican smoking mirrors attempt to make sure that they keep their hands in the till of the powerful healthcare insurance companies and the pharmaceutical corporations using us as their guinea pigs. They are puppets being told what to do, when to do it and how to do it. There is no revolution, or grassroots movement. The teabaggers are bought and paid for by tycoons like the Koch brothers.
This mindless partisan game, this awful use of misinformation needs to be called out for what it is. It is simply un-American. Greed and bad politics should not get in the way of people like my friend, getting good medical help. It just stands to reason that a healthier America can be a more productive America. When you remove the stress that comes from worrying over getting ill, no insurance, and the possibility of going bankrupt in order to pay a hospital stay, it makes for happier individuals, it makes for a better country.
Phil Gramm, the former Senator from Texas once said that he considered stopping Hillary Clinton's health care reform his greatest victory. Not surprising, coming from a man who can claim little of merit in his career.
We rank with the worst and poorest countries when it comes to providing our citizens with good health care coverage. Let's not have the Republicans rob us and bamboozle us yet again. Let's vote our interest this time around. Think carefully before you side with a party that led us into a mindless war, that sat in power when our country's financial crisis hit, and who gave the Chinese leverage over us. Think carefully before you criticize President Obama after less than two years of his first term. He was handed a crippled country, a failing economy, and a couple oft unpopular wars. President Obama was not handed one crisis, but several and the fact that Wall Street is functional, that the economy is stabilizing and that he is fighting for all Americans in this issue over health care, he deserves our loyalty and full support. He needs that in order to lead us into a better, healthier future.
The people we should be weary of are those who would seek to turn everything into a political opportunity. We are either going to make it or we are not. Let's make sure we do.
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