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Well, what do you know? A couple women work tirelessly, taking heat and weathering criticism, only to have a Maverick come in and get all the credit for defeating the latest (Round 5?) attempt at killing ‘Obamacare’. The Senate is no longer the “grown up” part of Congress. It’s sad to see our government failing so bigly. [Sorry, but you know I had to do it.]
There were five red-state Democrats who also helped defeat this bill. Claire McCaskill (Missouri), Joe Donnelly (Indiana), Jon Tester (Montana), Joe Manchin III (West Virginia), and Heidi Heitkamp (North Dakota) all likely felt pressure to support the Republican agenda to kill Obamacare but voted “No” on this attempt. As most thinking Americans know ‘Obamacare’ as the Affordable Care Act, or ACA, I’ll use that language moving forward.
So Thank You, Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Susan Collins (R-Maine). [Susan has been in opposition to the current Senate repeal-and-replace idea from the get go and, miraculously she has thus far avoided being a Twitter victim of 45. But Murkowski took a huge amount of flak from Twitter outbursts to outright threats, both from peers and the Secretary of the Interior – among others I would speculate as this fear-focused Republican force appears to work best via intimidation.]
And yes, I’m sure you’re both used to the fact that women often do a lot of work for which men get credit. [It’s in every conference room across the country. A woman brings up an idea which either gets no reaction or is summarily dismissed. Minutes later, sometimes only seconds, a man brings up the same idea and everyone is interested, excited, and exuberant. It’s the SAME IDEA, People! And that is the topic of conversation in women’s bathrooms across the nation. Yes, gentlemen, we do go in there, in groups, to talk about you.]
Thanks to you ladies, and some other brave souls, once again, the Republicans have failed.
You have to wonder what Barry is thinking about all this. I mean he endured 8+ years of criticism and doubt (not to mention death threats & being burnt in effigy) only to find himself being held up by many as one of the most productive Presidents in our history. And now, one of his biggest accomplishments, one that was hard fought through constant opposition, appears to be nearly indestructible.
We’ll see how the current Administration and Congress continue to bumble along, possibly with success in making changes. Maybe? Someday? But at this point, it’s pretty clear that any changes they make in order to cause the ACA to fail will be the reason it does. Yes there are many shortcomings in the ACA, which was acknowledged from the start. It was always known that there needed to be further work to get to a system that worked better for Americans. But we needed SOMETHING put in place to get us started. We needed a first step. And there are thousands of examples where the Affordable Care Act has save lives, or at the very least made them more livable. Even with the constant push from Republicans that this was going to fail, that it required complete repeal. Many Americans will say that they HAVE coverage now when they didn’t used to but with the compromises made to accommodate the insurance industry, most Americans also continue to see coverage costs increase, sometimes exponentially.
At present, it seems the biggest victims of the ACA are the Republicans who continue to try to fight it. Their efforts make them look evil, heartless, or at the very least uninformed on how many in this country live on a daily basis. And the fact that their efforts continue to fail just makes them look impotent.
Among my cohorts there have been some recent discussions about what it’s going to take to get a government that finally represents us, the American people. I was shocked to read about happenings in South Dakota earlier this year. Maybe you heard about it? I’m not much of a News Junkie and only occasionally will commit to listening to NPR of late – there’s just too much foolish coverage of 45’s antics. Here’s their coverage just prior to the voter-approved political reforms being overturned by legislators. Looks like South Dakota voters aren’t taking this without a fight. South Dakota’s motto is: Under God, The People Rule. Guess we’ll see how true that is. Maybe South Dakota will teach the rest of us how to take back our government.
Though I’ve taken a hiatus from news in part, I will say that Dan and I watched 45’s address to the Boy Scouts of America in its entirety. We can only see 45 (not the crowd) and Rick Perry behind him, who provided much comic relief. But I was able to see brief coverage of the crowd during that event on either the Daily Show or the Late Show (have watched a bit of that of late) and I was Disturbed (yes, with a capital D!) to see young men, supposedly honorable young men, reveling and fist punching the air and contorting themselves as 45 told his crazy story about Levitt and his sex yacht. Everyone gives 45 a lot of flak for his politicized speech to a group of young people; typically those who address this group focus on civic and personal responsibility or values and ethics that are (supposed to be) a part of Boy Scout Law:
A Scout is:
- Trustworthy,
- Loyal,
- Helpful,
- Friendly,
- Courteous,
- Kind,
- Obedient,
- Cheerful,
- Thrifty,
- Brave,
- Clean,
- and Reverent
I would say many of these scouts were anything but Reverent ~ feeling or showing deep and solemn respect. OK, so I also have to post this, because I find it just a tad bit creepy:
Boy Scout Oath or Promise
On my honor, I will do my best
To do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law;
To help other people at all times;
To keep myself physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight.
Maybe it’s time for us all to be a bit more reverent with regard to Health Care. And I am hopeful that Schumer and McConnell’s declarations that it’s time to “Move On” from the Repeal Plan will come to light. As Shumer said, “And let’s turn the page in another way. All of us were so inspired by the speech and the life of the senator from Arizona. And he asked us to go back to regular order, to bring back the Senate that some of us who’ve been here a while remember.” Maybe the Senate can return to being the Grown-Ups of the Congress.
And if you’d like to hear a good debate on healthcare, I’d direct you to the 7/28/17 Kerri Miller show, of which I caught the last 10 minutes and they were quite good. Real health care providers talking about what REALLY needs focus in coming to solutions. And, holy cow, when I went back and listened to it from the beginning, I realized my buddy Deb Dittberner was at the table!! Go, Alexandria Doc!
Until next week, I hope you all have good health. Or, if not, good health care.