Actually we should focus on our Republican Senators and Representatives. If the Senate changes the House bill it must return to the House for concurrence. I actually don’t believe that many Representatives voted for this fiasco believing that it would actually make it into law.
All of my elected representatives are from the blue side of the aisle, so there’s not much I can do there. Coal to Newcastle. But for those represented by people who might vote the wrong way, this is the time to make your voice heard, preferably as loudly as realistically possible.
@Brian_BSC You’re thinking several steps ahead! I bet you’re a good at chess.
@David_dns even if your elected reps are Democrats it’s still a good idea to contact them.
Knowing that where their constituents stand gives them a defense to use against anyone trying to change their vote.
It’s an opportunity to share your story, which might end up being part of your reps’ testimony. Again, giving them ammunition to bolster their stance on the bill.
The latest update: Senate GOP leadership is delaying the vote on the BCRA until after the 4th of July recess. In the meantime, the leadership will be twisting arms and offering incentives to members for their votes.
Here’s Politico’s reporting: Senate GOP yanks Obamacare repeal bill - POLITICO
The bills not dead. So people should continue to contact their senators and let them know how they feel about what they’re doing to healthcare.
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One of my (GOP) senators ignored my calls and messages this week. The other told me that he knew better than I do what is good for healthcare. Ah well, I’ll keep letting them know I’ll be actively campaigning against them next cycle, but they don’t seem to care. One of the drawbacks of living in a deep, deep red state.
Without taking sides, one of the most frightening things about the modern political landscape is that there are a great many “deep” states on both sides of the great divide. The reason that is so awful is that in a “safe” district or region, the general election is mostly a formality and the primary is the “real” election. Since primaries in safe areas are mostly about who can best pander to the party’s fringe extremes, you end up with elected officials who are as far as possible from the center and not interested in working together on anything. The process of government becomes all about adversarial gamesmanship and not about solving problems. This trend has been gaining strength at the state level for decades and now it has pretty much taken over the national scene. I fear for our future.
I agree completely. Unfortunately (in my experience) any attempt to have any discussion such as this devolves almost immediately into partisan bickering and name calling from people in a social bubble who seem to think they speak for everybody and the concept of a general breakdown is just stupid.
The state I used to live in, which will remain nameless, achieved this condition of extreme partisan gridlock about 2 decades ago, and it has been steadily spreading, like a disease. When your legislature is made up mostly of far-left and -right ideologues, they pretty much dig their foxholes and trenches, settle in, and refuse to cooperate on anything. That is fast becoming the world we live in. Doubt that I will live long enough to see the pendulum swing back.
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The worst aspect of this is that compromise has become a dirty word.
The writing of our Constitution wouldn’t have happened without compromise and our system works best if we compromise.
It was very disconcerting to hear Mitch McConnell’s statement yesterday about postponing the vote. He basically said that if the R’s can’t do it on their own they will have to work with the D’s and this will mean they won’t get everything they want, like that giant tax cut (reading between the lines). I always thought that a sign of good legislation is that nobody gets everything they wanted, because it is the result of compromise.
In it’s present form the bill boils down to the fact that a big tax cut for the already wealthy is more important than the availability of life saving drugs and treatments for the less well to do, as well as older people in general. In my opinion this is a direct result of the Citizens United decision and until that is overthrown the power of the Plutocrats will only grow.
I agree with @David_dns , I probably won’t live to see this. I inherited a vibrant democracy from those before me, but it seems what I will pass on is a much degraded system.
Too true. In Ken Burns’s classic documentary mini-series about the Civil War, Shelby Foote commented that Americans like to picture themselves as uncompromising, whereas the truth is that we are (or at least were) the most compromising people on earth, that our entire system of government is based on it, and that the one time it broke down completely, we fought a war that killed half a million of us.
And the most ironic part of all is that many of those one-percenters (Warren Buffett is an example) have said that they’re perfectly happy to pay more and fundamentally couldn’t care less what the tax rate is. I have a friend who belongs to that club, and he points out quite rightly that people who know how to make money don’t lose a minute worrying about it because they know they can always make more if they need it.
It’s all political posturing. Every bit of it. And congresscritters don’t have to live under the rules they make for everybody else. We are the losers.
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Unfortunately many in that club inherited their wealth and while they can spend it, they really have no talent for making more. They were born on third base and think they lit a triple 
The way I see this is that it just doesn’t matter who is taxed. You can have trickle down economics or you can have trickle down taxes. If a member of the one percent club is taxed more he or she will pass those taxes on to the consumer who ends up paying the tax bill anyway.
Even though I am a conservative thinker, I believe that universal healthcare is the way to go, in the end it doesn’t matter who pays the bills because they will be paid either by the government or by the healthcare providers in the form of increased rates for services to cover those that cannot pay. At least with universal government healthcare everyone would have equal access.