My letter to my elected representative. Granted a softer tone than my usual but I am hoping that it might actually be read: 2 October 2013 Representative Sanford; In light of all the current debate and turmoil regarding the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (PPACA) and the shutdown of the federal government I felt compelled, as one of your constituents from Bluffton, to send you an email. In the interest of full disclosure I am a moderate liberal who did not vote for you; however, you are my representative in Washington so I will direct this, as I should, to you. I am deeply disappointed in the House of Representatives and indeed in the entire elected system because of the current mess we find ourselves in and I think this entire debate over a current law is a fruitless effort to push agendas that are only popular with a minority of voters. The PPACA was voted upon and adopted and signed into law in 2010 it is a finished matter as far as myself, and undoubtedly a majority of American citizens are concerned. I understand the point you made in your speech of October 1 2013 on the House floor regarding “Selective Implementation” and I will have to say I had not considered it from your perspective. Keeping your objection in mind would it have been a more prudent path, given your assertion that “2 against 1 in Washington always wins”, to rally your Republican cohort and propose solutions that would not put hundreds of thousands of workers on furlough? To be honest this may be the way things work in Washington but on the street people are very angry that you all have chosen to make your point at the monetary expense of government workers and the inconvenience of us all. Your comments on the floor of the House regarding this shutdown being essentially puffed up by the media and made to be something more than just a thing that happens occasionally to make a point I am certain does not play well in the living rooms of those in your own congressional district who are sitting at home hoping to go back to work before they run out of money. The PPACA is a law, and yes one that by your assertions is not being implemented correctly or in a “constitutional manner”. I fully understand your point here as I stated previously; however, affordable healthcare has not been a reality in this country in well over a century when goods and services could easily be traded for health care. We need affordable healthcare in this country and the PPACA is the only option we have at this point. Would it not be better for the people of this country to “work with what we have” rather than bringing everything to a screeching halt while a bunch of grown men and women call each other names in the media and regurgitate party line nonsense ad nauseum? While making your speech you repeatedly referred to the PPACA as a bill, not as a law, and I hope that this is not telling of your ultimate motivation despite your more moderate presentation. I would like to see an effort by intelligent men (and women), like yourself, to get government opened back up and to find a way to address modifying and refining the PPACA so that everyone is involved and is treated fairly—is this possible? In closing I would like to point out that while I did not vote for you in the last election my vote for the future is still undecided as I do not vote party line and prefer to weight each candidate on their own merits. I saw and heard things in your speech of October 1st that made me question whether I made the right choice in not voting for you this last election; furthermore, I would like to think that you are the type of representative that takes individual constituents seriously. I have never written directly to an elected official before now as I have yet to see one that I felt might take a personal interest in what I have to say given my inability to make sizeable campaign contribution—I hope I have made the right decision in writing you and I also hope this letter does not end up in the trash bin at the hands of some form letter issuing staff member. I wish to leave you with some things to think about when you consider when you think about our “right” to healthcare. Despite our forefathers failing to include healthcare as a right for everyone in this country something must be remembered; our forefathers were establishing a new nation in an effort to “grow beyond” a nation that did not respect legal rights to representation and religion among other things. With a major focus on creating a system that can “self right” in times of discord I am certain the idea of universal health care and welfare did not exactly enter into their minds (or at least not that I can find in the documents they have left). With that in mind our country was founded on the premise of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness—note that life is listed first here. Could it be that in the times of our forefathers that healthcare was handled in a far different way and was much, much less sophisticated of a system? To my understanding healthcare was universally applied in 1776 and people were not simply turned away if they could not pay but were cared for first and payment was considered after they were well (in the Christian spirit of caring for one another). When did it become more important to medically judge a person by the contents of their purse than by the life in their bodies? Perhaps you can tell me why people are allowed to die in this country because they cannot afford care. I am Yours Respectfully, Shawn C. Iams
Posted on: Thu, 03 Oct 2013 01:35:26 +0000
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