The Republican Party has promised to fix healthcare for the past twenty-four years. Former First Lady, Hillary Clinton, spearheaded the country’s effort toward universal healthcare in 1993. The introduction of the Health Security Act was immediately challenged by Republicans as a giveaway and derided as HillaryCare (sound familiar). The playbook is obvious, whenever a Democrat introduces a health bill it will be singed with burning labels like socialism. Current Health and Human Services nominee, Tom Price, who voted against CHIP (Child Health Insurance Program) has affiliated himself with the Tea Party and called for repudiation of the, “vile liberal agenda that is threatening everything we hold dear as Americans.” So much for working across the aisle politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/....
The CHIP program is an offshoot of the original Clinton view of healthcare, of course conservatives have disputed her contribution and its effectiveness for years www.factcheck.org/.... President Obama stopped short of his original proposal of universal health coverage and adopted a revised version of what Republicans had originally proposed, including a financial mandate to cover the cost of the uninsured and create full participation www.foxnews.com/.... Suddenly when they decided to use the same strategy that helped kill, “Hillary Care” and attach the name Obama, mandate became a call to arms.
The current President has called on Republicans to work with him on numerous occasions, unlike the future President who said, of America’s problems, “ Only I can fix it”www.usatoday.com/.... Not only is that a dangerous narcissistic statement, it is also wrong, foolish and isolationist. The John Donne line, “no man is an island” comes to mind. The Pollyannaish thought of working together is more important than ever, with the new aggression Russia is taking for a run around the block. The threats of the dissolution of NATO and the estimated 65 million Americans biting their nails at the thought of losing health and human rights is palpable.
I recall my great-grandmother who died in 1979. She survived the emotional turmoil of the lynching of a family member, having me see her cry at being publicly humiliated by white men in department stores and bending her knees and back, to keep her children safe. I have had a lot of those feelings as a child come back since November. So far, the President-elect has appointed an openly racist assistant a place of prominence in the White House. Secondly, a man [Jeff Sessions] with a bigoted background may have my judicial fate in his hands along with a cauldron of liars alibiing for his[Trump] raging and bold incompetence are overseeing public and world opinion.
Despite it all, there is beauty in the American system. We peacefully transfer power, our armed forces avoid power laden dictatorship by installing civilian control over our military and no man, woman or family legally exerts power in perpetuity. We are saying farewell to a man [President Obama] who came on board in the middle of crisis and stormy seas, he guided the vessel, fed the crew and repaired the ship. The boat may hit rocky waters in the future but I have faith that American(s) will be okay from stem to stern, despite the novice commander.
A healthy America is our best defense and it is a right of us all.
Vote 2018, it’s not too late!