I had a great time re- watching the Lord of the Rings Trilogy a couple of weeks ago. If you saw it, I am sure you will remember the Eye of Sauron, focusing in on Frodo and his friends. Now that eye was evil, and it only noticed our hero when he interfered. When he got in its way of its goals. It never knew Frodo existed and never would have paid attention to him until he got in his way. I feel the same way about the Senate Blue Dogs. They are not heroes in any way, and I won't go so far as to call them evil and I am no Sauron, but they are in my way and that has made me notice them. They are in my way because I want a public healthcare choice so I can reject the defective product sold by my insurer.
So in the interest of fairness, and since I had no cool giant eye to project over the capitol, I sent them each an e-mail to let them know how I feel and why they should care.
I sent the following to the Blue Dogs mentioned in the excellent special comment on Countdown last night. I chose them because I am sure the National Association of Free Clinics will visit their capitols soon. Even if they ignore my e-mail, they should not ignore the need within their own state.
Here is the letter:
Dear Senator ,
Good Day. I do not live in your state. I am not a constituent. I will never be able to vote for you. I will never ask you to help me with any government agency. I have never contributed to your campaign or to your opponents, and honestly, I do not know anyone in your state. I have never thought about you or cared whether you are reelected, until now.
Why am I writing to you? I am writing to inform you that you are in my way. You are blocking what I want, what I need, and what I consider to be a basic right in this great country of ours. You have made me think about you and whether you should keep your job because you are in my way. I want a public healthcare choice for all of us and I want it effective now, not 2013. I want the choice for myself, my neighbors and my fellow Americans to reject the defective product sold to us by insurance monopolies. I want to be able to buy into Medicare. I want my child with autism to be able to buy into Medicare because he will be virtually uninsurable when he grows up and is no longer able to be on my insurance.
Do you want to be the one who prevents this country from getting healthcare?; the one who is blamed? Remember, Blue Cross, Cigna and the rest will never be able to vote for you, no matter how much money they give you. Slick ads do not overcome the reality of bankruptcy due to medical bills and won’t erase the pain felt by the death of a loved one due to lack of or denial of insurance.
Why should you listen to a Californian? Simply put, there are no state boundaries on the right to healthcare. It is a common right belonging to all Americans and is a national issue. It follows then that you are beholden to all of us. For this purpose, we are all your constituents. By failing to secure our right to a public healthcare choice, you have drawn negative attention to yourself.
Will you be the one to block this; to deny us our right to healthcare? Deny one of us, you deny us all. With the internet and instant communication, state boundaries are meaningless. It is easy to collect for and donate money to a candidate that will promote this right. It is easy to donate time, make calls and send e-mails on behalf any candidate from anywhere. If you are not that candidate, the American people as a unit will find someone else who puts the needs of this country over campaign donations.
I will start today by donating to the National Association of Free Clinics so they can bring their clinics to your state. It is ironic that by my small donation a Californian is doing more to promote healthcare in your state than you are by your actions in the Senate. Perhaps these clinics will remind you that your in-state constituents, who can vote for you, have the same right to decent affordable healthcare as the rest of us in America.
Please do right by America and guarantee our right to choose public healthcare.
Respectfully,
My point was to remind them that this issue is national in scope, and thus their actions have national consequences. Could the e-mail be better? Sure. If you think so too, send a better one.