I don’t write diaries but I just felt I had to share this. Today as I was waiting in line for the bus, two obviously retired women approached me as I got in line to ask if I would sign a petition to put Obamacare on the ballot. They didn’t explain it any further. I reached for the paper they were carrying with them that explained what the petition was about. One thought I was reaching for the petition but I said, “No, I would like to read the explanation.” She handed me the paper and the only thing in the title I saw was … Repeal Obamacare… Wonder what happened next? See you below the Fleur de Kos.
I live in Arizona where we are implementing Medicaid. I can’t believe our crazies in office passed it but they did. Now their crazy base is trying to repeal it. The woman who handed me the paper told me that Governor Jan Brewer and the legislature had passed it and now we need to get rid of it. Would I like to sign the petition? I said, “Not only no, but HELL NO. Why are you haters out here doing this?” Man, were they surprised. I’m 60 and have a cop-cut for a haircut because I don’t have enough to worry about anyway. I look like a tea party puke but I’m to “tea party” like George Bush is to “compassion”. In other words, NOT.
All this time, everyone in line was watching us and I made sure everyone could hear. So then I asked both of them if they were on Medicare. They said they were. So I said, “Let me get this straight. You want everyone in this line to pay for your medical coverage but you don’t want anyone else to have it? You do know how hypocritical that sounds, don’t you?” They started moseying away from me to the end of the line as other people were coming but I stayed right with them. I expected someone in line to come to their rescue but no one did. No one signed their petition while I was there either.
I next said, “You know, you’d have more credibility if you stopped taking Medicare and paid for your own damned medical care yourself.” At this point, one of the women walked way off because she knew she didn’t have an argument that would stand up and I think (at least I hope) she was mortified. The other woman asked me if I had ever used Medicare. I told her no. She said it was like not having any insurance and she paid a lot herself but fortunately she was healthy. At this point, she said something about welfare and Obamacare and not deserving. I was so incensed by that time, I can only remember snippets of what she said. So I said to her, “Well, if you feel that way about it, why don’t you do the honorable thing and stop receiving what you consider government payments - welfare - namely, Social Security and Medicare. Act on what you say you believe.”
She then turned her back on me walked away from the line. I went back to my place in line as the bus was coming. The guy in front of me said he just refused to sign it but he was glad I told them what I did. We got off of the subject of them and since he worked for APS (Arizona Public Service), we spent the rest of the bus ride talking about renewable energy and what it meant for the energy companies.