Dear Mr. President,
Please stand your ground, even if the consequences are dire. The time has come to stare down those who have placed their own political futures and their own narrow ideological quests above the best interests of the country. We need to return to a place where health care for all is a shared goal, even if we differ on how to achieve it. We need to get back to a country that scrutinizes government for waste and mismanagement, but realizes its importance in protecting rights and freedoms. We need to return to a common sense appraisal of the very real limitations of the free market. We need to go back to a place where everyone is a real American. Most of all, we need to get back to dialogue, compromise, and collaboration. And to logic and reason. Defaulting on our debt would be bad, but there are worse things ... and they are coming ... quickly. The time has come to take a stand. Please lead us so that we can follow.
I second your admonition to our President to “stand your ground” in opposing the Republican Party’s effort to defund the Affordable Care Act. But I would not characterize their goal as a “narrow ideological quest.” Their quest is to deny Government agency in matters of the public welfare. For years now the Republican Party has been pursuing their notions of individual freedom and free markets. This is a very broad goal that goes far beyond the ACA. At its most basic level the conservative Republican’s belief is that people are worth what they can earn. That is not how the U.S. Constitution expresses the worth of a citizen. This fight over the Federal Government’s role is fundamental and sounds a lot like the arguments that were so common and loud in the 1850s about a constitutional right to own (human) property and the founding father’s intention to permit slavery to be extended into the Territories. If you want to be reminded just how a leader who would stand his ground sounds, re-read Lincoln’s Cooper Union Speech. www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/speeches/cooper.htm
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