One year ago, Republicans in congress shut down the government as a last-ditch effort to stop the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. A friend of mine who was suddenly jobless started writing daily letters to John Boehner describing how uncertain life was without his income or knowing when (or if) he'd go back to work. He sent the letters to Boehner via the speaker's official web contact form and cross-posted them to Facebook. Several other friends started writing letters as well, and I decided to join in. The letter I wrote is below the orange thought bubble.
Dear Speaker Boehner,
There are many things I could talk about in my letter to you. I could remind you that the shutdown is affecting thousands of people like my friends James and Emily, government employees who now wonder when they’ll get paid again and how they’re going to make ends meet until that happens. I could talk about the people who are being indirectly affected, like those who run businesses near national parks and are suffering from lost tourist dollars. I could go on about how the shutdown will continue to have a detrimental effect on our already devastated economy.
I could express dismay at Republicans’ ceaseless efforts to stop the Affordable Care Act (which is its name – no more of this partisan “Obamacare” nonsense, please), which is allowing people like my father to finally have affordable and reliable health care. Heck, I could even speculate on whether it would have saved my mother’s life had it been implemented just a couple of years ago, even though I’ll never know the answer for sure. I could remind you that the ACA is a law – one that has been upheld by the Supreme Court – and you don’t repeal laws by shutting down the government until your demands are met.
I could wonder why you and your colleagues have blamed the President for the shutdown, when none of your “We’ll keep the government open if …” resolutions passed the Senate and therefore never reached the President in the first place. I could ask why, if there are truly not enough votes in the House to end the shutdown, you won’t call for a vote to prove it. I could remark that shutting down the government and then voting to reopen a couple choice parts of it (seemingly whichever parts have gotten the most media attention) is reminiscent of taking hostages and then releasing a few of them one at a time to curry favor with the public. I could shake my head in amazement at Congressman Randy Neugebauer and other House Republicans expressing outrage over the closure of the WWII memorial while seemingly forgetting that it was their votes that closed it in the first place.
Most of all, I could ask you to please be reasonable. Reopen the government and let the American people go back to work while Congress sorts things out through proper governance.
But what is the point of doing any of this? This is nothing you don’t know already. You’ve already proven you don’t care about how this is affecting the majority of Americans, and you’re certainly not going to care about the opinion of a California liberal who works for a labor union and supports marriage equality. I’m writing this letter because I find it cathartic. The only other thing I can do is hope that 13 months from now, you and the others in the House who voted to close down the government will find out what it’s like to suddenly be out of a job.
Respectfully,
Now here we are, one year later. The ACA has been a
runaway success, and calling it "Obamacare" is now hurting the GOP. Congressional elections are reported to be extremely close, even in
heavily red states. And the Koch brothers are
getting called out more and more for their billions in support of Tea Party candidates.
That's all wonderful, but none of it will matter if Democrats don't turn out to the polls this November 4 and vote. So please, spread the word to your friends and neighbors - especially to Dems in battleground or red states. Despite Right-Wingers' best efforts, every vote still counts. Let's make our voices heard.