Town and Country Newspaper

News Article

A Change We Can Live With

Written by Larry Roeder, Editor
2012-04-12

Here at the newspaper we are steadily bombarded with emails containing press releases for and against President Obama’s Health Care Act, better known as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

The constitutionality of the law has been challenged and is currently being reviewed by the United States Supreme Court, and by now we are all aware of the maelstrom caused by the President’s proclamation that unelected judges should not take the unprecedented, extraordinary step of overturning a law that was passed by a strong majority of a Democratically-elected Congress.

Two years ago, in this space, I wrote that most citizens believe health care reform is needed but that many thought the bill passed was not the right legislation. Because of that opinion, the writer was declared a racist by some local residents. Huh! What is racist about that statement?

Some people were prepared to defend their opinions by any means, including violence; a few crossed the line between consideration and cruelty. The need to have armed guards providing protection for some elected officials as they walked from their offices to the capitol building was appalling. That is something we’re more used to seeing on news reports from the Middle East instead of Washington D.C. But it happened.

Another shocker at the time was the confession of many, many members of Congress who admitted that they didn’t read the 2,700-page document before they voted on it – on both sides! Maybe that’s why they need an exorbitant, expensive staff – they can do the reading for them.

If that’s true, let’s cut legislators’ pay and give the lackeys a raise. How any official can vote for or against something they never read or made an honest effort to truly understand (shades of Pennsylvania’s 2012 “Year of the Bible” resolution) is beyond me.

Last week the health care legislation was argued before the Supreme Court. Guess what? It seems at least some of justices haven’t and don’t plan to read the 2,700 pages either! It doesn’t seem to matter that they are considering a constitutional question that could kill the entire act.

Most Republicans want a decision before the general election in November and most Democrats want a decision after the general election. This newspaper would like decision-makers who will render a decision based on the facts and consideration of the arguments made by both sides. We would also appreciate it if the Supreme Court Justices would take the time to fully understand it before they act on it.

For sure there are segments in the act that should stand and some that shouldn’t. Just because I don’t agree with the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in its entirety doesn’t automatically make me a racist because it was touted as President Obama’s signature legislation.

By not knowing and understanding the legislation fully, the court runs the risk of approving or denying it in its entirety. A better way would be to rule on the parts deemed unconstitutional. Those parts can be revisited by legislators and, hopefully, be eliminated or replaced with agreeable legislation in a document that’s less than 2,700 words, easier to comprehend and one that might actually be read and understood by legislators before they act on it.

Wouldn’t that be a change we could live with?

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