Q: Where was I this morning at 530am?
A: Sleeping
Explanation: I was sleeping instead of getting healthy at my daily class at the gym. I think it was my own personal protest against the Health Care bill that was passed late last night in Congress. Actually I don’t need to protest the bill but I did stay up to watch the votes which is why I was so tired this morning that I skipped my class.
In order to share my thoughts on the bill I must address the critics and skeptics. So here it goes:
1) The bill has passed and the President will sign it tomorrow. Stop threatening to sue, defect, detect, or ask for his birth certificate. Get over it.
2) This bill was not “rammed down” your collective throats, or done in secret. In fact the discussion and formation of this piece of legislation occurred over the last year and a half and was quite possibly the most publicly open and discussed piece of legislation by the American public in history. In fact if you are using any version of the phrase “rammed down” in your argument against the bill you only prove that you’re world is limited to the Glen Beck and Mark Lavin shows and that you have no original thought of your own. Before you complain about the bill again, try actually reading it. Because your web browser may not be allowed to leave FoxNews.com You can find it here at OpenCongress.org
Additionally, this vote was not done on Sunday night to hide it from the American people. Actually it was voted on Sunday because it was too important to wait for business to resume Monday. Additionally if you took the time to turn on the radio or tv or even pick up a paper you might have known about this “hidden” vote. Even ESPN said something about it for crying out loud. If you are still lost, go back to watching Bass Masters.
3) $908 Billion! How can we afford that? First, settle down. It’s over a 10 year period which puts it behind the yearly salary of several major league baseball players and the amount that Joan Rivers and Michael Jackson spent on plastic surgery over the years. Look, I get that it’s a lot of money, but how can you possibly say (with a straight face) that you are really worried about our mounting debt when you never once challenged war funding or tax cuts or stimulus payments? How can you be worried about our nations bond rating when yesterday you thought Moody’s was just the shortened name of the Blues? How can you think your taxes are going to increase when you can’t manage to file them each year?
4) This bill doesn’t matter because we’re going to see it won’t work. Ok that is at least a reasonable complaint. If you have read through the text (see above) and have thought critically and strategically about the terms of the bill then perhaps you might think that sections might not work in the real world. I can’t argue with you on this. I think many clauses are worthwhile, including those that ban denying coverage based on pre-existing conditions, making sure that everybody carries health insurance so you don’t have to worry about being overrun by hospital fees whose only purpose is to allow the facility to recoup it’s losses from serving the uninsured in the ER. With that said I will let the legislation run it’s course and give it the next 3-4 years to phase in. Then we’ll be able to see if it’s working or not.
Finally I want to point out perhaps the only thing that will benefit all sides of the debate. The American population, who many times struggle naming their state’s capital, received a full fledged lesson on the American process of government and political discourse. We’ve learned that our system of democracy still exists as it has for 200+ years in a majority rules environment. We’ve learned that in order to pass bills, compromise has to be made (thank you Congressman Stupak) and we’ve also learned that the battle against racism, sexism, and homophobia is far from over. I leave you with this thought: why is it that when you see a picture of Tea Party protesters, you have no problem picturing each of them as valued Wal Mart shoppers?
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