Dear Mr. President and Speaker of the House

Dear Mr. President and Speaker of the House,

With all due respect (as I do acknowledge the importance of the positions to which you now occupy) to blame the fiasco that we now know Trumpcare upon the Democrats in Congress is, well, just asinine. This is not playing the blame game, here is the truth. Your party was swept into power during the last election cycle and holds all the power needed to pass your beloved legislation. Both divisions of Congress AND the Office of the Presidency are squarely and securely in YOUR control. And yet you blame the Democrats for your failure to pass your holy grail legislation (to defeat the demonic ACA as though it were a destructive dragon pillaging and destroying America)? Pish posh! You knew that no Democratic legislator worth  their salt was going to join you in beginning the disastrous process of disenrollment  of millions upon millions of fellow Americans from their health coverage. You knew this, and you didn't mind as you also were firm in your belief that you “had the votes” - after all, your mandate to rule (your words not mine) was evidenced by the recent electoral outcomes. It had to be done on the anniversary of the passage of the ACA (by the way how much of an asshole are you in that you wanted to do this on this day anyways? Felt like kicking ACA enrollees symbolically in the gut as a reminder that you are in power?). You have a rogue division within your own party that gave you the “fuck you” in a very real way. How does that feel? 

The current failure is yours  (GOP). You have no idea of what to do. You had SEVEN long years of protest, grumblings and fear mongering to come up with a plan of your own. Your lazy asses couldn't even come up with a decent plan in SEVEN years. You’re not in control of your own party. You had ALL the votes, but even still you cannot govern. Say what you will about Democrats, however, they pulled themselves together when crafting the ACA and although they argued and not all reached consensus, they did what was needed. 

ANYONE with any sense knows that policy, especially health policy is not static. That is, you don’t just pass legislation one time and it’s done. That’s not how this works  - at all. It’s an unending cycle. You should know this as politicians, especially you Mr. Speaker. You pass legislation, you work through areas that seem fine theoretically but in actuality have unintended consequences, you seek engagement from stakeholders, and you further define and legislate. It’s like writing a paper, what sort of idiot stops at the first or second draft? Much like this blog entry, I continue to make edits to it to correct grammar and to better define my thoughts  :) . 

My fear is this, you didn’t really want to repeal and replace. You wanted to repeal. You wanted to destroy a key piece of legislation that you didn't like. Period. You wanted to erase legislation from a former President whom you did not like. Period. The mess that you brought for passage was terrible and when Americans learned exactly what was in the details, they protested. You didn’t expect people to confront you at town halls ( for those of you who were brave enough to speak directly to your constituents - shame on you for those who didn’t - I am thinking of several Tennessee elected officials who disgust me right now for this very reason). People bravely shared their stories, they presented in ways that you did not approve of. They forced you to acknowledge their humanity and what was at stake. In other words, you were called out. Royally.

All is not lost. Stop thinking in such binary terms (win or lose). I’ll be the first to admit that the ACA is not a perfect and seamless piece of legislation (does that shock anyone who is reading this). Of course it isn’t. However, it is an important and much needed law. Look at the millions upon millions of fellow Americans who have benefited from this Act. How can you not be moved and encouraged by this? In some of the poorest households, people now have coverage and services that they did not have before. It makes a difference and I believe as we gather data in the incoming years we will see the benefits that stemmed from this. 

The ACA has challenges and we can meet those challenges. Health policy can be improved! It must be improved. I am coming from the belief that health care is a right for everyone. We are only as strong as the weakest links amongst us. Our communities are stronger when we take care of those who are not as fortunate as many of us. We are stronger when we are inclusive and supportive of others. To survive and prosper, we must be more egalitarian in our approaches. 

You must have buy in. You have Senators who would be willing to work with you at making improvements to the current law. You need a new set of eyes on this. I am thinking of one in particular who throughout the most recent campaign fairly discussed some of the failings of the current policy and I believe he would work with you to come up with solutions. Yeah, I’m a Bernie bro, but look at where he stands at this point in our current political climate. Poll and poll see him as trustworthy by the American people. What could be gained by reaching out to him and other like him to make changes to the existing policy?  I have to believe that good things can come from this.