Majority voted for change

Majority voted for change

EDITOR:

We didn’t elect President Obama to maintain the status quo. We elected a man who had big ideas and a broad scope. The fervor that swept him into office was a repudiation of eight years of lies, war and corporate greed. We wanted something different. We wanted an administration that was empowered by the people, one that would look at the problems and say, “I can do something about that”. We wanted that kind of leadership because we were ready make a change but needed the political will do so.

And we won.

There are those who say this president is doing too much, too fast. That it would be better to wait “for the right time” to make changes. They say that spending money on health care reform so soon after a giant stimulus bill would be an enormous error.

In my experience the time is never right for change. There will never be a time when we are out of debt or when unemployment is at a good level. Health care reform needs to be dealt with so we can move on to growing the economy, deal with immigration and a hundred other items on the national to do list.

It is spectacularly shameful that so many people want this legislation to fail. There are people who are in real need, who want health insurance but who can’t get it because of high premiums, pre-existing conditions or those who have exhausted their lifetime benefits due to catastrophic illness. There are people who started the year with a job and health coverage who no longer have it. They are our friends, our neighbors and our family members. If this legislation is not passed how can we proclaim that we are our brother’s keeper?

Rumor, fear mongering and misinformation have played an enormous role in watering down this powerful legislation. People who have no motivation to help the health care insurance industry are shouting down debate at town hall meetings. Their free floating anxiety over the government’s involvement in health care will kill the public option and guarantee that all of us will be forced to buy insurance without a government run program to compete for lower prices.

These people who react from fear need to move aside so that those with bold ideas can forge ahead. It’s what we voted for and it is what we expect. Maintaining the status quo just means more of us will go broke paying medical bills we cannot afford. It’s time to change some things and not be afraid of that change.

MIKE PRELEE

Hubbard