OP OP ED

 

 

I have been suffering a severe writer’s block lately.  Maybe I’ve said everything I have to say?  I read the editorial page of our local print media and as usual, it was pretty much repetition of the same theme in different words under different names:  “Obama is bad”; “Obama is really bad”; “Obamacare is a threat to our freedom, way of life, our religion, but Medicaid is worse”; “Obama is a tyrant, a terrorist, a Muslim, not an American and a lot of other bad things that are un-American and bad”.  I’ve never been clear on the reasons for those statements because what I just wrote is pretty much what they say.

One particular letter, signed by two “Atlanta Tea Party Patriots” from Buford urged supporting of HB-707, a bill that would ensure that Medicaid is never ever expanded and Georgia will never ever have a State insurance exchange. It would also end the University of Georgia Navigator program which provides assistance for Georgians enrolling in the Federal insurance exchanges.  This kind of baseless rhetoric has previously inspired me to respond, but now I can’t help but think “why bother”?  If I wrote a letter and it was printed, and if someone read it and was motivated to respond to my response it would just be a repeat of the letter I responded to (you did get all of that, right?).  No matter how many times I ask myself, or ask someone else “why why why is it a bad thing for people to have health insurance coverage?” there are no answers.  Why would the State turn down Medicaid expansion when they don’t have to pay for it and it would ensure that people get treated and doctors and hospitals get paid?  Why would they not want a State insurance exchange that offers our citizens a variety of affordable insurance choices?  They speak of “special interest groups”; when did affordable health care become a “special interest”?

The only reason at all that I can see for all this outrage is—wait for it—OBAMA!!  We know it’s not racial because they say so.   It’s just because he’s a really bad man.  Hard to debate that subject.   In fact, it’s hard to even talk to those with that mindset. 

So that’s why God created blogs; so people like me have a place to vent with the assurance that no one will respond by repeating the same drivel that inspired me to write in the first place.  At least I’m pretty sure that the 2-1/2 people who read my words probably won’t.