Dear America,

Harry Reid is a chicken.

He knows exactly what would happen if the repeal of the Health Care Law came to the floor of the Senate for a vote; exactly, without a doubt, as the case with everything else NOT brought to the floor -- it is a case where you want the votes and don't have it, or you don't want the votes and you do.  Congressional Math 101.

And now, with twenty six states joining forces in the Floridian Lawsuit, the Senate -- who's founding principles were to act on behalf of the best interests of the state, having originally be destined to each seat in the senate by a vote by the STATE legislature, and not directly by the people -- it would seem they almost have to now.  Needless to say, our system of checks and balances, as the founders intended, is not being properly orchestrated without this key relationship in place.

But what does Harry do?  Just don't talk about it, don't discuss it, and surely, don't take up a vote -- you pick up your toys and go home.

Hey, Reid -- READ THIS... from some of my favorite people... The Heritage Foundation; churning out Constitutional repartee, and explaining the process of process, every day... with what I do believe is a big smile on their face; for deep down, they know, they are on the right side of the argument, on behalf of the American people, every time.

Hey, Reid -- I got another idea -- how about this, given you are an avid follower of the anti-business, anti-corporate, anti-free enterprise president, how about we run with that and also take the lead from information flashing the airwaves in thirty second spots daily -- let us go, all together now, to the root cause of what is "killing more people than aids, drugs, alcohol, cancer, and car accidents COMBINED."

Honestly, when I first heard this, my mouth dropped to the floor; just think about it for a second.

Just what is this mass murderer, on the loose, and chipping away at our national security and well being?  

TOBACCO.

Now, if you think way back, there were days when I actually took up smoking -- research, you know -- only a matter of a few days -- for my blog; disgusting habit, couldn't stand my breath, let alone smoke actually inside my house, ugh! yuck.  Don't hate, but I do not know how people do it!  but people do.

SO this commercial claims that much of the rising costs of health care are due to the unintended consequences of getting people hooked on the bad stuff; and clearly, statistically speaking, it sounds quite right.

Being a non-smoker, let's just cut to the chase right now; just as my taxes should not support abortion, I shouldn't have to pay -- and by the looks of things, pay dearly --  for everybody and their uncle's smoking habit -- especially in light of such a cost.  That is just not right.

So can we talk division now?  Let's separate the smokers from the non-smokers; let's get a health care package that rewards those of us who do not use a nicotine crutch everyday, and give all the punitive damages to the one's who do.  

How about we redistribute the disproportionate costs, and stick it to the maker of the cancer sticks, and we all know who they are...although the only one that comes to my mind right now is Phillip Morris... along with the millions of Americans who consciously choose to smoke, day in and day out, at what, five bucks a pack, every single day. unbelievable as that sounds.

Separate us right now; divide and let us conquer the liability gap, right here, right now.

I shouldn't have to pay for something "killing more people than aids, drugs, alcohol, cancer, and car accidents COMBINED" and exponentially adding to the cost of health care, burdening the American people who do not smoke with an unfair, unbalanced, unfunded liability that sends our insurance premiums through the roof.  That is just not right.

This is the irony though -- here we sit with the best health care system on the planet, arguing over who is going to pay for it and how -- and all these years, we didn't even realize how we have grown so far away from our first principles; by the beauty of becoming this burgeoning economic superpower that we are (and yes, we still are), we have fallen away, mindlessly and carelessly, from the days when we were actually responsible for ourselves in every which way til Sunday (even for dealing with, and paying for, our own addictions).

I'm thinking of the days before we had insurance at all!  I'm thinking of the days when we got seriously ill, sometimes we just died; I'm thinking of the days, we had old wives remedies and a medicine chest full of homemade elixirs and whiskey; I'm thinking of the family doctor venturing out to the family farm for a house call; I'm then thinking, how in the world did we pay that? a family doctor making house calls!? did we pay him in chickens? give him a buck/fifty and call it a day? oh how I get lost in the details, right?

I'm thinking of the days when a child was born with down syndrome, the doctors told the parents to put the child in a "home away from home" and move on (that wasn't that long ago, as it happened in our family in the 1960's); I'm thinking of the time before massive amounts of antibiotics were distributed like candy; I'm thinking of a time before there was a pill for everything under the sun; I'm thinking of a time before heart stints and replacements were no big deal.

I'm thinking of a time before Europeans and Canadians and Sheiks could easily cross over to America to take advantage of our system, our doctors, our hospitals, our nurses, our rehabilitation care, our expertise, our medicines...our liabilities, our doctors who pay through the nose for added insurance and malpractice lawsuits; I'm thinking of a time before we let other people cross our border to have babies while we simply paid for it -- handsomely-- in more ways than one-- trusting them with our unbelievable generosity

I'm thinking of a time before we made America this big and if I do say so myself, pretty darn great, compassionate, and open-hearted.

We grew a good reputation rapidly; word got around; the dream, for hundreds of thousands of people, more like millions, around the globe, was simply to get here; to live and raise a family in America, and gladly blend into the American family, for the American way came with a flashing sign in neon lights that you had finally arrived.

IF we really think long and hard about how things have turned out over the years, I do believe, we could very well find ourselves all in the family on the funny farm, by golly; what have we done to ourselves?  where have our first principles gone?  we had everything going for us...what happened?

The thing is, the prevailing winds afoot have blown in a mighty vicious strain, a progressive contagion, with enough strength to take hold, if we let it; the ability for this nasty stuff to go viral is upon us.  It is an addiction of the worst kind, for we, as a people,  have just allowed it to rule our every  move, giving it free rein to sneak up on us and become this huge burden right before our eyes -- for they were closed -- or we were simply lost in the moment of enjoying a really good high; while just maybe, some of us even saw it coming -- there were signs, you know, the dust up was a plenty -- but no matter now; 

now, the addiction just has us in a choke-hold, either begging for more or for mercy.

hey Harry, don't be a chicken; take this repeal to the floor of the Senate today; if you don't have the guts, America will never find her glory again.  buuuc buucbuucbuuc buc bucbaaww (say it like a squawking chicken)...

long gone are the days we can afford to pay Peter with the help of Paul, especially when our name is Harry.

long gone -- 

our founders knew this day would come -- they warned us -- they gave it their best shot by giving us all the tools necessary to stay on the path of the straight and narrow.... the thing is, we kept on smoking behind the barn anyway as it was just    too    much     fun and so hard to stop.

Make it a Good Day, G