Letter to OK Senator Langston on healthcare

As one of my State Senators I am begging you not to follow your Republican colleagues in this misguided attempt to undo the Affordable Care Act. All the Republican complaints about the Democratic Legislature’s maneuvering and manipulations appear mere projection by the single minded lemming like drive to railroad the repeal of "Obamacare" (and everything any Democratic President has accomplished).

I know it must have caused no end of consternation for Obama to have co-opted the Conservative Heritage Foundation's Insurance driven healthcare plan carefully crafted for the Republican Party; personally I am of the opinion that universal healthcare is the only viable option.

• §  Disease and accidents do not care what race, color, creed, or social economic status a person is other than thriving in poverty

• §  Matthew 25:40-45 'as you do unto the least among you so you have done to me.

• §  The US Constitution Preamble 'Promote the general welfare' and Article 1, section 8 of the US Constitution (which you swore to uphold)

• §  Adam Smith (father of Capitalism) "Theory of Moral Sentiments" ..only Barbarians abandon the young, aged, sick and infirm to be devoured by beasts or perish from exposure (my paraphrase).

• §  Universal Healthcare would end a very large amount of lawsuits tying up the Judicial system as a great deal of suits ultimately boil down to "Who will pay for the Doctor / hospital bills" and would stimulate all sectors of business (with the notable exception of the Health Insurance Industry).

• §  This country already practices the absolutely worse form of socialism by socializing the financial risks of banks: mortgage manipulation, derivatives traders ‘Collateralized debt obligations’ and Credit Default Swaps, using the taxpayer coffers to bail out banks and their associated institutions all while privatizing profits. With very few exceptions the Congress and particularly the Republican majority have enshrined “To big to fail” and the failure of the Legislature and Judiciary to break up the immense banks, reintroduce Glass Stiegel, and regulate the financial industry has doomed us to a catastrophic repeat of

• §  Humans are social creatures that live in a society. It is dissembling at least to say Single Payer (Universal Healthcare) Medicare and Medicaid and Social Security; despite the fact the programs they are PUBLIC insurance programs (albeit woefully and purposely underfunded due to politically sanctioned income caps and interest income exclusions) are socialism when 'promote the general Welfare' immediately follows 'provide for the common defense' which proceeds 'establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility'.  

• §  Unfortunately, with few exceptions neither party is willing to confront Eisenhower's nightmare which continually devours ever increasing amounts of our Treasury despite the DOD inability to even perform a simple audit.  Because of my statement #1, it is arguable that at least some basic form of universal healthcare is part of ‘providing for the common defense'. You want people to have easy access to a doctor to detect and mitigate pandemics (my family lost relatives to the 1918 influenza pandemic). God only knows what could be spawned from genetic manipulation (Ala Steven Kings "The Stand").      

• §  Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid has nothing to do with the national debt (Reagan-Mondale 1984 debate). The programs are part of a PUBLIC INSURANCE PROGRAM. The only debate is in the lack of funding which would be solved by raising the Income cap and treating interest as income.

• §  This is not a zero sum game. Unlike buying a MX Missile, monies distributed to the population via pensions, Social Security, SSI, Medicare, Medicaid go directly into the local economies. I will reiterate: Unlike monies accumulated by the 1%, public expenditures are not 'hoarded', the cash isn't stashed in concealed offshore accounts or used to covertly influence public policy.

• §  What is the Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches ultimate end game?  Dissolve the "Grand Experiment' in a Federated Representative Democracy in order to propagate a Plutocracy, Oligarchy, or Kleptocracy? It sure appears to me that the late Molly Ivans was correct in her observation  “ the Republicans don’t want to govern – they want to rule”.

• §  I ask you - Is it the desire of the governing majority to increasingly impoverish the population and drive those at the bottom into grinding 3rd world destitution while giving military adventurism abroad (and the “defense” contractors behind it) a blank check while turning  the entire country into a ‘One Party State” (like communist China or the USSR)? As Benjamin Franklin so aptly noted "Those who would trade essential liberties for security will deserve neither nor obtain either."

• §  I dare say History will not be kind to those public officials who promote iand propagate foreign entanglements and military adventurism while not only ignoring but actively encouraging the impoverishment of the US Citizenry.   

• Healthcare is a right not a privilege unless you intend to amend the bill of rights with “You have the right to be hopeless, helpless and suffer from mental and physically illness.

• I hope my words have some effect on your policy position but I fear you will continue to favor expediency, Ideology and demagoguery over sound and thoughtful governance.