I have a plan...

[Mammamel]

I have been getting tired of watching our leaders ignore us. Most of us did not want the stimulus, universal health care or much else they are force feeding us at this point.
A lady in AZ wrote a splendid letter that has become an online petition. I do not have much confidence in on line petitions. However if everyone who is angry as I am copied it out , and added a cover letter of their own feelings, then mailed it to their representatives in both houses and the president, perhaps it would have an effect. I may even send it to my state government, as they have a few proposals I do not wish imposed on me at this point. One would not affect me, but it is still wrong.

The letter may be found here:
"The Letter" (http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/198/26742/)

PLEASE actually read the letter before replying. My cover letter will go something like this

Dear Sir/Madame
I am enclosing a letter of great importance. It says clearly how I feel. Though I was silent, being too angry for words over recent Government actions. Rest assured I am silent no more and my voice will be heard with my vote.
I add one thing to this letter. Stop the courts from making law from the benches, and return to their role as law enforcers not lawmakers
Sincerely,

Off to print a few letters...

[MrsKlor]

I really enjoy listening to Glenn Beck. That letter is great! I'm going to copy and paste it and forward it to a lot of my conservative family members.

Better watch out though....you might get called an "extremist" for having these viewpionts! ;)

[Mammamel]

OH sweetie that is the least of my worries! Sides I have been called much worse.
These are desperate tiems and they call for extreme action. Not violent action, but extreme none the less.

[jensal]

Thanks for posting this! I especially agree with the part about illegal immigration. Living ten miles from the border changes your perception of the importance of this issue. Recently a minister whose family had bought him a nice car disappeared. He was kidnapped for his car and killed. They found his body in Mexico and his car was found being used to smuggle illegals.

The state of CA is having budget problems because 20% of the population does not pay taxes and still receives tax benefits because they are illegals. Honest tax payers are losing their benefits, like good school systems, and public works maintenance because of smuggling and illegal immigration. (Sorry for this tirade, but I feel very passionately about this subject since becoming a CA resident.)

I will definitely print and sign this letter. The government needs to know that it works FOR the people.

[FrugalAnnie]

I for one would like to see universal healthcare. I can't afford health care at my job and private is out of the question. I have not had any healthcare in about 5 years. Those who do have it would probably not want to see it implemented because they don't know what it's like to be without.

[AngiePangie]

This letter doesn't apply to me directly, as a Canadian, but it sums up my feelings nicely about the governments here. I like the interview (http://www.glennbeck.com/content/articles/article/196/26808/?ck=1) he conducted with the author of the letter as well. Especially this part:
GLENN: They warned us. Our founders warned us over and over and over again, when you become complacent, when the government is no longer afraid of you, well, then you're in deep, deep trouble. We saw it coming. All through the Nineties we said, oh, well, you know what, character doesn't matter. When we said character doesn't matter, we gave them that's like going to the store manager and us saying, one of the other store people saying, "You know what, he's embezzling from you, I'm sure he's embezzling from you" and saying, "I'm not sure if that's true. Look, he's a little slippery on a few things, but I'm sure..." and the other guy's saying, looking at you, the manager, looking at you while you say to the other, "Hey, back off him, okay? He's a little slippery on a few things." As soon as you say that to somebody, you give them permission to be slippery on all things.
Thanks for posting this :)

[jmgrizza]

WOW...powerful!! I will definetly pass this on!

[MrsKlor]

FrugalAnnie, while I do know what it is like to be without healthcare and how scary it is, I can say with 100% certainty that universal healthcare is not a good idea. As a military family, we are basically provided with government funded healthcare. In an emergency case, we can go to a hospital ER, but will be billed for whatever Tricare doesn't cover (which is usually fairly substantial). When my daughter was very sick and I needed to get her in to be seen by the doctor, I was told to call the appointment line, only to be told "sorry call tomorrow." You can't make appointments for stuff like that, you have to call these nonsense appointment lines and try to get in, and if you aren't the first caller at 7 a.m. when they open (if anyone even bothers to answer your call), you won't get in to see a doctor. And not only that, but the doctors do deploy at times and you don't get to see ANY doctor. Your best bet with this type of system is to cut your losses and go to an Urgent care clinic or the ER and pay out of pocket. If we had universal healthcare, it would be worse than this.

I am not trying to attack your position and I completely understand where you are coming from, but I just wanted to share that the grass is not always greener. The monthly bills we pay for my daughter's doctor visits and her ER visit four months ago, we would gladly pay to not have to rely on federal healthcare entirely.

[sommrluv]

Online petitions are normally ignored, so mailing it would be best. I hadn't seen that letter, the date said the 17th, is that Correct? It was very interesting. I read the interview as well.

Not to start a debate as well, but I have to agree on the position of Universal Healthcare. There was a young man in my GSD group. There is a company called Genzyme giving him an Enzyme replacement, free of charge, for four years, which was literally, saving his life.

Without it, his heart and brain swell, and he dies. He lives in Canada. They have, I believe, a managed health care system? After the trial was over, Genzyme is offering them reduced rates, payment plans, anything to keep him on it. It's normally $400,000 a year..they were cutting it by half. But they can't give it for free to every patient they have.

It's still a brand new drug, that cost literally, billions of dollars to make.

The prime minister of Canada said to this young man, and I'm paraphrasing here, that it would be different if he had a cancerous brain tumor, he would only have to have that paid to be fixed once. And while that operation would be possibly near a million dollars all told, with radiation, recover, etc...it would be cheaper in the long run, and we just can't approve you.

Basically, your life is too expensive to pay for, because it's not as common as cancer. Your voice cannot be heard, because it's a rare disease.

Finally, through countless petitions, marches, tv shows...Canada is paying for the supplement. And it's a big breakthrough...There are hundreds of thousands of orphan diseases. Your child could have the next rare blood disease, rare kidney cancer, that the government decides is just too expensive to pay for.

Do you really want to the government making life/death decisions about your children? about you?

[sommrluv]

I guess my second point is...I grew up without healthcare. So I made sure to get myself an education, and never took a position without one. I paid for school myself, and got good grades and received scholarships and loans. I've lived with no insurance and I felt strongly about it BEFORE I was sick, and I feel just as strongly now. In this country, an education is free. If you are downsized, the government will pay for you to go to school. It's a beautiful thing.

Dh still pays $600 a month for healthcare. His office just recently added a similar plan that will save us $400 a month. Our co-pays, are literally, thousands of dollars a year. Over ten. And that is the Platinum card of plans. Not an HMO.

But having put in the time and money into my education, and working. And DH putting time and money into his, as he paid for his own schooling as well, and he is working, and paying for healthcare. And now to pay for other people's...I see no equity in that choice.

But...I digress.

[cassyjane]

My daughter got MS at twenty-two. Not everyone gets the luxury of the time to get educated and working. Not everyone who works is able to pay for healthcare.

I guess, summerlov, you think even the value of a child's life should be determined by a parent's ability to pay.