Thursday, June 28, 2012
Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Why the ACA (Romney/Obama Care) MAKES SENSE
Why the ACA (Romney/Obama Care) MAKES SENSE !!!
Regardless of what SCOTUS decides Thursday about the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) somebody is going to be upset. The most recent ABC News Poll shows that while only 36 percent of Americans express a favorable opinion of ACA yet the same sample group's opinion is almost equally unfavorable at about 39 percent. Most of those polling against claim their biggest single objection is the "individual mandate". This may be due to misinformation or legitimate values but either way, the numbers show that the American public overwhelmingly feel our healthcare system as is needs a major overhaul.
In my opinion ACA gets Americans much closer to universal healthcare. Most would be covered so basically those in this country that are undocumented would be excluded by definition. As for smaller sized companies who will be forced to provide health care are will continue to receive tax credit subsidies for affordable coverage. IF YOU HAVE IT NOW THRU YOUR EMPLOYER, YOU WILL CONTINUE TO HAVE IT....
ACA is a VERY VERY overdue reform which is going to greatly help the American public, even as most people are misunderstand its key provisions, many of which have not even gone into effect.
The fact is that access to healthcare is a fundamental human right. It is thus the moral imperative of any country to insure that its people will be taken care of. ACA may not be perfect but it is the best of all possible paths to universal healthcare coverage in the currently highly partisan climate of Washington.
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
SCOTUS Citizens United and Drunken Sailors
While the pundits were having a field day Monday with SCOTUS decisions on immigration, another decision was announced with just as important ramifications. SCOTUS declined to revisit its infamous campaign finance decision (aka Citizens United). This was, of course, with the usual 5-4 conservative vs liberal margin. The Court reversed a decision Montana's Supreme Court which had upheld a state law limiting political spending by corporations. In fact SCOTUS used the its own 2010 Citizens United decision as precedent. The majority opinion claimed that “The question presented in this case is whether the holding of Citizens United applies to the Montana state law,” the opinion said. “There can be no serious doubt that it does.” Montana’s arguments, the opinion continued, “either were already rejected in Citizens United, or fail to meaningfully distinguish that case.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/26/us/supreme-court-declines-to-revisit-citizens-united.html?_r=1&ref=politics
Justice Stephen G. Breyer, in the dissenting opinion, stated that "Citizens United itself had been a mistake".
“Even if I were to accept Citizens United,” Justice Breyer added, “this court’s legal conclusion should not bar the Montana Supreme Court’s finding, made on the record before it, that independent expenditures by corporations did in fact lead to corruption or the appearance of corruption in Montana. Given the history and political landscape in Montana, that court concluded that the state had a compelling interest in limiting independent expenditures by corporations.”
This decision upholding Citizens United is a travesty. The unprecedented amounts of money pouring into the presidential campaigns and races for Congress via the socalled "Super Pacs" is probably the single biggest threat to our democratic system. To uphold the idea that corporations have 1st Amendment rights of freedom of speech (remember Romney's famous "corporations are people too" comment?) would be comical if it were not so very very serious. These "Super Pacs" spend money indirectly on campaigns, with little or no federal or state oversight like drunken sailors on leave. Regardless of party, these "Super Pacs" constitute a clear and present danger to the survival of our republic. They spend spend spend, mostly with the goal of smearing the opposition with no direct linkage to whomever they are supporting. This is mudslinging at its finest and it cuts out the 1st Amendment right of freedom of speech for the 99% of the American people that DO NOT give to "Super Pacs".
As citizens and taxpayers, all we can do is continue to vote and give whatever we can to whomever we want but as INDIVIDUALS.......lets just hope we have a democracy to leave to our children.
Oh and as an afterthought, remember when I stated that the "Super Pacs" spend money like drunken sailors? Well it doesnt take a whole lot of imagination to figure out who these drunken sailors used to spend their money on. Is that what we want our politics to be all about, the "world's oldest profession" ? I sure as heck hope not.
Just my two-cents worth.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/26/us/supreme-court-declines-to-revisit-citizens-united.html?_r=1&ref=politics
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