School house rock’s “I’m just a bill on Capitol Hill”, and a years worth of government in high school is the extent on my education the political workings of our great nation. I still say great nation, because I believe at our heart we are. Unfortunately I’ve become thoroughly convinced in these last few months/years that we are not what our Constitution says, “A government by the people, of the people, and for the people”. Of the people sure… my children are ‘of the people’. “For the people” is outright laughable, and by the people is debatable at best.
I’m pissed. What is happening right now is wrong to its core, and I want desperately to do something about it, and I know I’m not alone. The problem, I have no idea what TO DO. The only things I’ve ever heard/seen are to march for your beliefs, or write/call your congressman. I’m honestly curious if that has ever worked for anyone? Seriously comment if it did, cause I wanna know. Which leaves me with likely 90%+ of the rest of the population…. pissed, with nothing to do about it.
These are the facts I’ve heard in the last week, if they are wrong, I’d appreciate someone correcting them for me, cause it would likely help give me better perspective on this whole thing:
- All furloughed employees are getting retro-active pay. Which in my world means us tax payers will be footing the bill for this indeterminate paid vacation, where we don’t even have access to the perks of the taxes we are required to pay. (Monuments, Museums, Parks, etc…) http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/house-votes-to-approve-back-pay-for-furloughed-workers/2013/10/05/936c5b4c-2ddc-11e3-8ade-a1f23cda135e_story.html
- The deadlock comes down to arguments over the Affordable Care Act/Obamacare, which is NOT affordable, unless your in America illegally, incarcerated, or living below the poverty line… Quoted from the government news article.(http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/DC-Decoder/2013/1001/Obamacare-101-What-to-know-if-you-opt-out-of-buying-health-insurance). So that ‘middle class’ relief that was discussed…. lie. The ‘calculator’ link (http://kff.org/interactive/subsidy-calculator/) showed my family would have to pay a $10K+ premium, and additionally $12K is our max out of pocket. For reference our current insurance is more than HALF that!
- Also, from all the media hype I’m hearing the shutdown is the Republicans fault for not signing off on funding Affordable Care Act. I’m sorry, but when I saw the chart of what our debt has climbed to and is projected to continue based on this legislature, it is simply irresponsible to NOT stand in its way until an alternative can be presented. With the majority party in office currently being Democratic, stop pointing fingers and find a better way to fund what you want! https://www.cbo.gov/publication/44521….. For all the flack GW caught, at least the line held for his 8 years…. then it doubles almost overnight…. how does that not scare anyone else??? You can’t blame EVERYTHING on someone else, at some point you’ve got to stand up and take responsibility.
- When people do follow process, attend town halls, and raise valid points, they are forcibly ejected and arrested. http://foxnewsinsider.com/2013/09/21/watch-father-forcefully-ejected-town-hall-forum-asking-common-core-question
So what can we do? How do we clean house, literally? Any ideas???