The other night our local news channel ran a story about a Vietnamese woman who had come to America years ago. Happy to be in her new country, she worked to earn citizenship and joined the Army to serve for a number of years. She was honorably discharged with several significant medical challenges. She found work with the Federal Government. Today she has three kids, and is furloughed. While she can still get care from the VA, she doesn’t receive full benefits which would help pay all her monthly expenses. And like many of us who are 100% disabled, she is looking with real concern at the third week of October deadline when the VA says it will run out of money to pay its VA benefits.
This young woman is in much worse shape than I am. I have savings put away, a good chunk of which I just put in my checking account so that if worse comes to worse Wells Fargo can get its mortgage paid the first of the month. But millions of us vets, and Federal workers, and many others in similar situations are not so well off. And my savings bucket isn’t that deep. Republican or Democrat, Independent or Green, whatever your politics, I suspect we are all planning to throw the idiots out come next election. Except for one isolated little county in northern Georgia where they are quite happy to fight the good fight as long as Obama and immigrants and Obamacare and women’s rights and anything that looks like progress or change is stopped in its tracks.
Countries all over the world have long looked up to us for leadership and right now we are an international laughing stock. No matter who you blame- and it really doesn’t matter- this is about enormous egos and the stupidity of politics- those who are getting hurt are the people who put these morons in office. Gone is any semblance of graciousness, common sense, care for the common man. They wield words that say “the American people this or that” but their pocket and benefits aren’t being affected. We’re paying the price for their inability to talk to each other.
Obamacare doesn’t affect me- but it will give much needed insurance to a number of people in my life who didn’t even know about it. When I told them they were immensely grateful: to wit, a 68 year old grandmother who is bringing up her grandkids. She’s been without insurance all her life. Take it away and she’s back in the same boat. I support it for those who need it. But on the largest scale, to hold an entire nation ransom because you have an issue with a law? At a time when America is just now getting back on its feet financially? Then spend more time talking about your position in the press instead of genuinely trying to find answers?
I don’t know about anyone else but I look forward with glee to getting to the ballot box next election cycle. My suspicion is that all of us who have had to live in terror of losing homes, not being able to pay for food or basics due to Congressional shenanigans are going to become outspoken activists. Finally. If that’s what it took to get us involved in politics again, then I say terrific. We’ve needed something like this to wake us up to whose up in Washington having way too much say over our lives anyway.