Republicans Shutting Government Down to Avoid Helping the Uninsured

President Barack Obama

Americans are among the most hardworking and worn out people on the face of the earth. A country where production never stops, every hour of the day from 12.00 a.m to 12.00 p.m, millions of Americans toil like termites to feed their families and keep the wheels turning on the largest economy in the history and imagination of mankind.

From federal income taxes, state taxes, sales taxes, investment taxes, etc, the federal and state authorities take a bite out of every paycheck that people in this country make and if you make more than what the government thinks is sufficient for you and your family, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) hounds you like a hungry leopard until every cent is paid. If you fail to pay soon enough, you pay back with interest. You payback interest on money that you worked for, such is the beauty of capitalism.

No matter how sick you are, regardless of what financial hole you are in, the government takes their slice out of your paycheck evenbefore you set your hungry eyes on it. American workers form the backbone of this massive economic giant. The healthier they are, the more hours they put in and the happier the tax men are to take their share and leave you to figure out what you want to do with the rest.

The American Uninsured

Most Americans get their health insurance through their jobs. When the American economy began to stall in the 90s, the insurance companies saw that they could still make some money by jerking up health insurance premiums. The little secret lies in the economic concept of elasticity. There are certain things you can't do without, like fuel for your car and and access to health care, at least for sensible people. The demand for these commodities are relatively inelastic. This means that if the price of gas goes up, people will complain, but have very little option other than pay for the gas if they want to continue for gas. For most necessities, the demand is inelastic and not overly responsive to variations in price.

If for example the price of candy becomes expensive, people will say "hey we can do without candy," and the demand for candy will fall faster than the fall in price. The demand for candy is elastic, very sensitive to price changes.

Health care on the other hand is a necessity. American Heath care is the most expensive in the world and without Heath insurance, good health care will be out of the reach of most families. It is only the very healthy, the very poor, or the foolhardy few who will decide to give up health insurance coverage when the price of health care premiums go up. Health insurance companies know this dirty little secret and have been jerking health care premiums up every year, throughout the 2000s. Add to this, they stopped providing insurance to people with preexisting conditions or if they did, they only did so at premium rates so abominably expensive that they were out of the reach of the average struggling American.

Opponents of Health Care for All

For many decades, the Democratic Party had been trying and failing to ensure that most of the citizens and residents of thus country have access to affordable health care, just like other industrialized nations around the globe. President Clinton made it a signature issue in the 90s, but was derailed by entrenched Republican opposition.

President Obama in his first was able to pass the Affordable Care Act which ensured that millions of uninsured will get access to health coverage. Millions of hard working, tax paying Americans who would not be getting a free ride, but would be able to keep their children on their insurance and have access to competitive rates and no longer had to declare bankruptcy or sell their valuable assets when they fell sick.

The Republicans, who claim that they are Christian conservatives have at every turn tried to prevent this access by the poor and needy to health care and have now resigned themselves to shutting down the government, just so that the poor people who Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney called the 47%, will not get the benefit of access to affordable health care, which in their view only damage the healthcare enjoyed by their affluent constituents over the years.

As we go through life, we all obtain our world views through interaction with those around us and our environment. I was brought up in a society where every man is his brother's keeper and one hand washes the other. I do not understand why anybody, let alone a politician, would deny access to affordable healthcare for the very citizens whose sweat pay for all the luxuries these politicians take for granted.

What is conservative about a Christian who would rather see his brother die than to help him live, who would deny health care to the father who supports a family of five. Republicans care so much for the economy that they would rather see a sick man go bankrupt than help him stand on his own too feet again and continue working, paying his taxes every two weeks, without complaint. I fail to see either reason or humanity in this stance.

Republicans take their cues from the talking points of right wing commentators like Bill Oreilly, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Sarah Palin, all right wing multimillionaires who do not give a damn even if their premiums were $50,000.00 a month. It is only the Democrats that are standing between up for the poor and marginalized. The Republican instead of waging a war on poverty have decided to wage a war against the poor.

President Obama should hold firm. For two terms he campaigned on the promise of providing affordable health care and all those two terms the republican vowed first to not allow it to happen if they were elected, but then vowed to repeal it. Both times he won by increasing margins. The voice of the majority spoke when they voted for President Obama instead of Senator McCain and the shape shifting Governor Romney. The President must therefore stand by the people's decision and not allow fringe politicians like Senator Ted Cruz to derail the most significant piece of legislation for the last 7 years.

We stand with President Obama, we support and pray for the successful implementation of the affordable care act. And for your information I have health insurance, so go figure.