Dear Mr. President,
Today, March 23rd, 2010, is the beginning of my 23rd year of life. After watching the debate for the past 14 months, listening to the Republican lies, and, yes, I will admit, losing hope at least once during the process, you and the rest of the people responsible for passing this legislation have provided me the absolute BEST birthday gift I have ever received. I know I'm still young, and I know that I have many, many birthdays yet to happen, but I absolutely CANNOT imagine that a better gift than affordable health care for the millions of suffering Americans will ever come my way.
Dear Mr. President,
Today, March 23rd, 2010, is the beginning of my 23rd year of life. After watching the debate for the past 14 months, listening to the Republican lies, and, yes, I will admit, losing hope at least once during the process, you and the rest of the people responsible for passing this legislation have provided me the absolute BEST birthday gift I have ever received. I know I'm still young, and I know that I have many, many birthdays yet to happen, but I absolutely CANNOT imagine that a better gift than affordable health care for the millions of suffering Americans will ever come my way.
I say this not because I am sick, or because I don't have a job, or because I don't have health insurance. No, I am perfectly healthy, have a stable job, and decent health coverage. I say this because I am HUMAN, and I am an AMERICAN, and I, for as long as I have been politically active, cannot bear to see other Americans suffer. For me to finally realize that, with help from you, those less fortunate than me will no longer go bankrupt because they got sick or because their work doesn't provide them health insurance is indescribable.
Yes, improvements can still be made, and I certainly will not stop fighting to improve coverage and lower costs for ALL Americans, even those sadly misled by the Republican Lie Machine. But, as far as victories go, both politically, and socially, this was a big one, and I cannot thank you enough.
You are an amazing man, and, given more successes like this in the coming year and beyond, could possibly go down in history with the same prestige as Lincoln, FDR, and JFK, all great social reformers just like you.
Thank you again, from the bottom of my heart,
Michael Laabs