I want to thank President Obama. Although I've spent most of my life and career in and around politics, I’ve never been an activist. I’ve never signed a petition or called my legislator out of devotion to a candidate or cause. I was born into the Republican establishment and still mostly view the political world through that funhouse prism, and was content to mostly sit on the sidelines.
But after I received one of those now-infamous insurance cancellation letters -- mine from Blue Shield of California -- I’m just about there. It’s true, as the president’s apologists say, that the coverage I purchased on the individual market is no great shakes. Despite expensive monthly premiums, my deductibles and co-payments are still pretty high.
And even after Obama got caught in the biggest whopper of his presidency -- “If you like your plan, you can keep your plan” -- I didn’t pay too much attention. I start my day with Playbook and RealClearPolitics, and consume political and policy dialogue all day long, but as a spectator. Until now.
Conceptually, I’d be cool with universal coverage. But Obamacare isn’t it. Far from it. My biggest complaint is that the law, officially named the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, isn’t affordable and doesn’t protect patients.
And after these past two months, with their storm surge of bad news for Obamacare and HealthCare.gov, I understand how Tea Party folks feel. Until now I have been lucky enough to avoid the grip of the federal government in my health care decisions -- even when I was working within government (including a short stint at Health and Human Services).
Now it has me firmly in its grasp and I find myself shopping, like a modern-day Harry and Louise, for health care on the Internet in the middle of the night. I’ve got both the government and an insurance company between me and my doctor; what could possibly go wrong?
My complaints are no different than those of millions of my fellow citizens. We’re small business owners, the self-employed, contractors of all kinds. We span the political spectrum and make up every color of the rainbow. We’re small potatoes. The president and his political allies have preached ”fairness” from day one -- but now the number of us who’ve been stripped unfairly of our health insurance represents a population the size of Washington state.
So today, I am asking my fellow 7 Millioners to pick up their smartphones, tablets, Princess phones, old-fashioned ballpoint pens -- whatever -- and let their representatives in Washington, D.C., know what they think. As a cohort, we represent some 12 congressional districts. But we’re growing fast, unfortunately, and if even 10 percent of us lobbed a phone call, letter or email the way of our elected representatives, people on Capitol Hill would go bananas.
There’s nothing a member of Congress wants less than phone calls coming into his or her office. That means people back home are actually paying attention to what’s happening (or not happening) in Washington. When these members go home for recess or re-election, constituents might actually ask questions to which they expect answers.
So if you’re up for it, please call the Capitol Hill switchboard at (202) 224-3121. If you’re looking to speak with the White House, give (202) 456-1414 a shout. I don’t think they’ll put you through to the president, but I bet a staff assistant will take a break from his job search to listen to your voicemail.
Mr. President, thank you, merci, danke schoen and muchas gracias. Without you and Obamacare, I might never have found the activist’s passion that now resides within me. It took almost 40 years to get there, but now I understand. Sometimes the government does things even I just can’t abide.
In this case, Obama and his Democratic co-conspirators passed a bad (2,700-page) bill on a party-line, gimmick-laden vote to install a Rube Goldberg machine to manage one-sixth of the U.S. economy. In the process, they swept up a bunch of moderate, independent citizens who voted for you -- some twice!
“Hope and change” is dead, if it ever really lived, and too many of us -- extolled as the backbone of the economy -- are once again left wondering: With friends like these, who needs enemies?
Read more: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2013/12/02/how_obamacare_turned_me_into_an_activist_120825.html#ixzz2mLuNXcas
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Read more: http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2013/12/02/how_obamacare_turned_me_into_an_activist_120825.html#ixzz2mLu7KCFm
Follow us: @RCP_Articles on Twitter
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