Jim's Journal

I’m at a loss here as I sit and watch our Congress totally destroy what was the perfect system of governance and freedom. It’s like all common sense and fight has gone out if my Republican Party – with only one extreme view there is no innovation or growth, when everyone is happy running off the cliff you resemble lemmings! A quote from the WSJ:

“I don’t see any pressure points. I don’t see anybody changing direction,” said Rep. Devin Nunes (R., Calif.) He said he would vote for a simple short-term spending bill with no policy riders, but added he doesn’t expect GOP leaders to bring one up at this point. “Now that we’ve entered the valley of death, we should probably run together,” he said

What on earth is he talking about – so we just give up on principles to run with the pack? That’s not leadership or government, that’s socialism! Or worse it’s fascism – sure “Mussolini got the trains running on time and there’s no way to stop them anyway so we might as well get on board!” I live in a pretty conservative state and district so my congressman and senators are locked down and controlled by the Tea Party. And I’m not against much of what they represent – conservative republican approaches to governing the most important and relevant country on the planet. But I’m a pragmatist too and believe in essential (though not strict) Libertarian rights – for everyone not just people that look like me. You cannot expect the Government to take care of you but it should be there for you when you need it. And it’s not a tool for punishment or worse bullying.
If Charlie Dent can stand up and be innovative or at least propose a spending bill without conditions then there is some hope. But only two dozen votes isn’t enough. Look folks – this is still a democracy. You lost the vote, you lost the appeal, and then you lost the vote again! Its the law now, deal with it. It’s time to do your jobs and propose something new. Voting to pay furloughed workers was nice but even more ridiculous: after all they’re not working so the country isn’t working and they’re getting paid vacations so now you have lost your reluctant advocates on the inside – what do they care.
This health care law isn’t perfect, there’s a lot that needs to be changed so let’s focus on doing that. All hands on deck to change the way individuals are mandated, or delaying that action. All hands on deck to help the small businesses. And for goodness sakes all hands on deck for tort reform and making healthcare affordable, really affordable not simply paying the bills and allowing the insurance companies to collect the margins.
Look I’m gonna come clean and let the world know that I’m not working now and on Cobra. And I see on EOB’s how much the doctors are charging, and my insurance company reduces that fee, and then pays the rest with the exception of my deductible and co-pay. But my insurance premium for our family of five is more than half of what most people in this country make in income. Would I love to go buy a separate policy for a lot less, of course! In fact there is no way this family uses as much medical services as we pay out an insurance, if all of those bills were less and we paid them directly then the doctors would make more, insurance companies would make less and I would pay less. Obamacare simply perpetuates the system, if we fixed existing government medical care and expanded just a little we would probably be in a better spot. I’m not ready to support single-payer but I certainly understand where insanity becomes the norm. In other words, I like choice and I like being able to have a direct relationship with my doctor where there’s value for service but I don’t like paying insurance companies more than I’m paying my doctors! And I don’t like the fact that its no longer “insurance” but in fact its managed healthcare. Stated simply, if the fees were reasonable I would rather simply pay them and save the insurance for a catastrophe. And I’d be fine doing what I need to do to stay healthy to keep those premiums down.
Look, nobody is going to read this except maybe a few people that I probably don’t want to read it. But I’ve got a lot of time to think about this, I read a lot and I’m very disappointed in our Congress right now. I’m thinking about my children heading out into the world to make their way and I just want the same opportunity for them that I had to build a wonderful life.