By Collin Good, Editor in Chief
Last week, the United States House of Representatives, under the leadership of Speaker John A. Boehner, voted to repeal last year’s Affordable Care Act, signed into law in March 2010. While the Republican Party, quickly settling into their renewed role as the majority party, was able to deliver their promise to the American people that they would successfully repeal the ACA, the gesture was little more than symbolic, catering to those of their base that elected them this time, but could so easily turn against them.
The American voters that have deemed themselves members of the Tea Party are no more united than either the Republican or Democratic parties, but for a third party in American politics, they’re the loudest outside group to get national attention in some time.
From my campaign experience this fall, the first encounter I’ve had with true Tea Partiers, I’ve found that though they’ve given one house the majority, it’s easy to see them switching sides in the next election.
I’m not a fan of the Tea Party, but I respect their purpose, and I support their right to speak their minds. But when a group of people gets together for the purpose of change, and stands by candidates that have spent decades in the Washington spotlight, it’s somewhat hypocritical.
When I spoke with members of the Tea Party at their doors, they were so anti-incumbent, that became their driving force. But what happens when the anti-incumbent movement rears its head at the new House majority?
Speaker Boehner made it clear that a goal of the Republican Party this Congress was to support the ideals of the American people. Turns out, more people support the healthcare reforms that were passed last March now than they did in November.
The Affordable Care Act gives coverage to nearly all Americans. The Act gets rid of the idea that if you are already sick, you can’t buy health insurance, it lets young adults stay on their parents’ coverage until the age of 26, and it allows for more Americans to have access to health insurance than ever before. But that wasn’t how the Republicans saw it, and that’s not how it was portrayed in the media.
While the ACA has its downfalls, it extends coverage of medical insurance to mental health, rather than just physical health. I find it hard to believe that anyone today would argue that it’s more important to fix a deviated septum than it is to give peace of mind to someone who may need help finding it.
One proponent of repeal, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer, a Republican, has been an outspoken critic of the law from its first days of the bill hitting the floor. Claiming death panels would be created, allowing government oversight in planning deaths of senior citizens, Gov. Brewer couldn’t have been more wrong. While the ACA allows for planning with doctors for end-of-life treatment, the act hardly allows Kevorkian-esque deaths.
In fact, Governor Brewer has taken herself a turn toward death panels, when the state of Arizona has denied paying for life-saving transplant surgeries for those who cannot afford it with their current insurance coverage. An ongoing story, these people have had their life placed before the State of Arizona, and the State has turned away from them.
While Governor Brewer has spent years in the Arizona Legislature as a proponent of mental health improvement and education, her work as Governor has been a huge detriment to the mental health professionals that allow for afflicted patients to live a normal life. Coverage for mental health care is provided, more than ever before, in the Affordable Care Act, yet Governor Brewer stands against it, with those Tea Party Constitutionalists that believe it’s a government takeover.
Let’s see if they stand by her when she faces re-election.
The American political process is one of the greatest institutions in history. Yet when the officials elected by the masses cater to their loudest, least educated audience, true progress is taken off of the table.
Speaker Boehner, I hope that someday, you’ll use that oversized gavel you so proudly accepted from Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi, the new House Minority Leader, to work with the Democratic minority and spend time on something that actually benefits the American people.
