We Brought You In and We Can Take You Out

Here’s what I don’t get. If 65 percent of the public want the public health option, then why is anyone in the Senate voting against it?

When I took Civics in the ninth grade, I learned that it was the duty of the elected official to put the interest of the public before his or her own. (In those days it was always and only “his”, but that’s another blog story.)

I was watching MSNBC last night and felt physically sick listening to Baucus and his lies. He is still insisting that people will be forced to give up their employer-sponsored health insurance in favor of the government plan. No. No. No. How many times does this have to be said? Is this man devious, or merely stupid? In any case, he should be voting the way the people want him to vote, not the way he wants. That is not how it is supposed to work.

Yet it does, time and time and time again.

Why?

Lobbying, for one thing. And why does that exist? Why isn’t it illegal? Does it seem even remotely right to you? And why is it that it is illegal for an insurance company to contribute to the campaign of a state’s insurance commissioner, yet the big companies can give money to senators and congressmen? Everyone of us should be outraged that any elected person can take money from the big corporations. Payola is illegal. Prostitution, except in Nevada, is illegal. And this exactly the same thing. Why do we all turn a blind eye to this moral and outrage? I have more respect for prostitutes.

I voted for Tom Carper. Tom has known me and my family for over 25 years. We met when he lived in a small apartment across the hall from one of my brothers. First name basis. When I phoned his office regarding the public option and left a message with a drone, I actually expected a call back. Cobra had cancelled me and I wanted and needed Tom’s help., desperately. He basically turned it over to an office worker, then sent me a form letter saying “sorry it didn’t work for you”. It was terribly disappointing. A few weeks later, I wrote to Tom concerning the public option, and told him about my situation. It was very similar to the letter I wrote for the fbm.com, and I expected not only a response, but a personal one. I received a form letter e-mail, explaining that he was backing Baucus and what a terrific plan it was.

Tom, as most of us saw last night, ended up voting no on the public option. Then he waffled and voted for Sen. Charles Schumer’s plan. It was better than voting for Baucus, but not enough to save his reputation in my eyes. He sold us out. When is the last time Tom Carper had to decide between buying a coat for the winter, paying the electric bill, or going to a sliding-scale clinic? (Since the Medicaid guidelines are so incredibly unrealistic, anyone making over $900.00 a month would be going to a sliding scale type of pay. That means a person making $900.01 a month would be paying $108.00 for a Boniva pill, for example. A pill, by the way, that lasts exactly one month. And this is a type of medication one needs to be on for the rest of one’s life. Do you think Tom’s wife worries about this kind of thing?)

It was enough for me to not vote for him in the next election. Which is what I believe we all should do, regardless of party affiliation, when it comes to all of our senators. If they prove that they do not have our interests at heart, that they put their own concerns above that of the constituents, if they can be bought by big pharma and other large corporations, then they need to go.

We brought them in and we can take them out by not voting for them in the next election.

Maybe after that happens enough times, we can get back to the way it’s supposed to be.