Howell Country 7-12-12

Statement

I went to the Howell County Chamber Candidate great and meet Thursday July 12th. The audience was predominantly Republican. I was the last to speak of the congressional candidates. Representative Jo Ann Emerson had a representative for her there who said a few words. One item he emphasized was the recent 33rd repeal vote of the House on the Affordable Care Act (ACA). He said that Jo Ann was in the speakers chair when the vote came down. When I address the group I acknowledged the 33 separate attempts of the House to repeal the ACA by reminding the audience that there has been 33 voting sessions to repeal ACA and not one voting session for a JOB"S BILL. I discussed the need for a reformed tax code that is fair and does not burden the middle class. It is unbelievable that some large corporations pay no income tax. I looked to the audience and told them that many people in this room paid more in income tax than the corporation of GE. The middle class is a unique part of our Nation's economic engine. It is important to have quality jobs for the middle class because the increase in the demand for goods and services by volume will come from them. I quoted the Congressional Budget Office as to one of the main contributing factors of the nations debt and deficit is the continued Bush tax cuts. Tarp, the bail outs and the stimulus plans were event expenditures, however each and every day that comes and goes, we continue to add to the deficit by the existence of the current tax cuts.

On immigration there is no practical application for the sound bite "Ship all illegal aliens back to where they came from". That is not rational and would not be economical. For illegal aliens that have been in the U.S. for period of time and have become individuals who contribute to their communities in aspects of business, commerce, community betterment and paying taxes; there should be a path to citizenship. For those who say, that there should be no amnesty or path to citizenship because there is no penalty for breaking the law. One option would be to enact a fine for the violation as part of the path to citizenship.

Howell County Candidate Meet and Great 7-12-12:
After my address to the audience, candidates for 154 state representative seat were to speak. The very first candidate was a lady. Here entire topic of discussion was the Affordable Care Act which she referred to as Obama Care. As she continued to speak she repeatedly referred to the ACA as Obama Care. She read from a script of all the possible imaginary negative possibilities that would occur if it would not be repealed. Her passion and volume of her voice was notable. As I sat there and heard the deluge of comments it sounded very familiar to me. As some what of a historian of health care issues from my involvement with my state and national associations, I could recall a similar set of circumstances where the Republican party promoted fear and skepticism of the unknown. In the "60s when Medicare was being created and enacted in 1965 the same things were said then, almost verbatim. Medicare of course was not the turning point of socialism and did not lead to egregious rationing of health care or block patients from seeing those doctors they wished to. Everyone needs to be a little more real.

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