I Think America Can Do Big Things, How About You?

I refuse to believe that a buggy website means that a good faith attempt to ensure as many Americans as we can is doomed for failure, because I think this country is capable of doing big things, and we can do them right. I don't know about most ACA critics, but I think that it's probably a given that any major enterprise is going to have some setbacks, and that's just par for the course, but no reason to bitch and whine and give up and sniff about how hard things are--because I don't think that's the American way, see?

In my book, every American's life is worthy of some protection against treatable injury and illness, the same as we have schools that protect us from ignorance and a military that protects us from invasion. We can afford border guards and meat inspectors, but do we want to give even some working Americans the side-eye and act as if their heart murmurs or pluggy noses are somehow less meaningful to them than the ischemia and catarhh of the well-to-do?



Balderdash, says I. When I pause and consider that our level of infant mortality is deplorable and our lifespans aren't the envy of the civilized world, I think we have a problem, and I think we should roll up our sleeves and fix it! The ACA is a start, and it's just a start, but if it's any kind of start, it's got to be sincere. And I don't don't want to start trouble, but I doubt the sincerity of those people who say that somehow, insuring our fellow Americans is going to bring a greater disaster on this country than we already faced with the system we had before.

I've heard their scare stories--and that's all they are. They are full of hot air. And I think a little of that hot air needs to be let out, and I wonder if our nedia are ready to do that. They are quick to criticize the buggy website--but can adequately deal with the buggy misinformation campaign that has been going on for the last few years? Can they please put away the nonsense of a crank like a certain senator we know of, who is Medicare eligible even if he didn't qualify for employer-paid benefits, who insiste the ACA would have killed him?

And if you feel like I do, that America can do big things, and that every American has "skin in the game" when it comes to being a healthier country, you pass that on! Because you call it what you want, but I say it's patriotism, and that's (almost) all I have to say about that.

(This message brought to you by my dander, which sometimes gets up when people say government can't do big things, like win WWII, put a man on the moon or build the internet in the first place...)