We the people NEED to be involved

Average American Tells Why We All Should Participate In Political System: A True Patriot

Op-Ed by Nancy Cahalan

I never saw myself as someone who would run for an elected office. My older daughter has dreams of running for president one day and I always thought she would be the first in our family with her name on a ballot for election. The most I was involved in politics was in voting. I have never worked for a particular campaign nor have I donated to one. It wasn't that there were not candidates or issues that did not grab my attention, becoming more involved was just not something that I felt called to do.

Last Spring, someone in my church who is active in our county Republican party asked me if I would be interested in being a precinct committeeman. Not really knowing what that was, I said sure. A short while later, I got a letter saying that I had been appointed as the precinct committeeman for my voting precinct.

I began educating myself on just exactly what a precinct committeeman is. I must admit that the first article I came across on the Internet threw me for a loop. It was titled "The Most Powerful Office In The World Is NOT The President of the United States": (http://www.eagleforum.org/misc/brochures/precinct-committman.shtml)

I will admit I was doubtful that an elected office--about which I had never heard--could be the most powerful in the world. I am still not totally convinced that precinct committeeman is the MOST powerful, but there is power there that many people probably don't realize because, like me, they have never heard of the office--nor do they know anything about it.

What has compelled me to actually run for the office in the February 2010 elections is multifaceted. One reason is what is happening at the federal level in our country right now. There are bills being passed and signed that are not being read by those who are paid by us to do so. The provisions included in those bills are not in line with what is contained in our U.S. Constitution and I object to that greatly.

Another reason is the Republican Party is a mess. In our state (Illinois) and in our nation, there are so many who have been elected because they claimed the "R" after their names and yet I find it hard to discern why they claim the "R". The votes they cast, the issues they support, the speeches they give are not in line with my understanding of what the Republican Party has as its values and ideals. The Bush administration gave us the deficit with which President Barack Obama began. While I do know Obama has tremendously increased that deficit, he did inherit a huge debt from a Republican president and a Republican majority in Congress. U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter at least was honest enough to admit his affinities were more in line with the Democratic Party than the GOP and stopped pretending to be a Republican. I wish more of those who are referred to as RINOs (Republicans In Name Only) would do the same.

Finally, I was brought up believing if you are not part of the solution, you are a part of the problem and just sitting around complaining is not the way to actually get things changed. Since I am already the precinct committeeman for my precinct, I intend to hold onto that position and do what I can from there to bring about the changes that I can.

Becoming a precinct committeeman is one of the easiest things that one can do. It does take time, but not much money. You have to get the appropriate paperwork from your county clerk, get the requisite signatures on the petition to get your name on the ballot, and then 'campaign' as you wish. If you do not know anything or very little about the office, educate yourself. If you don't feel called to run, maybe you know someone else who you can encourage to do so. With all the talk about grassroots movements, here is the grassroots of any political party.

Precinct committeemen do have an impact on their respective parties from the ground up--whether you run, encourage someone else to run or not. Please don't just sit back. Truly our country--as it was intended to be--and, more importantly, our freedoms are at stake. If we do nothing, we will wake up one morning to find we are living in a country we do not want. If I am accused of fear mongering, so be it. The stakes are high and we need to be aware and we need to fight back.

Health Care Reform

I will begin by saying that I AM NOT AGAINST HEALTH CARE REFORM. Got that. I believe that there are things about our present health care system that do need reform to make the system more patient friendly and also more doctor friendly as well. But the things that are being bandied about in Congress are NOT the way to go about doing that.

The favorite number that is used to justify the reforms being considered in Congress is 47 million AMERICANS lacking health insurance. (I have even seen it at 50 million). The problem I have with that number is that there are NOT 47 million AMERICANS lacking insurance. Indeed 10-12 million of that number are NOT Americans. Now whether you use the politically correct undocumented worker or the technically correct illegal alien, these people are NOT Americans and therefore should not be included in that number nor should they be included in the reform debate for AMERICANS at all. Further there are between 8 and 9 million Americans who do not have insurance because they choose not to have insurance. For some it is an economic choice. They can put the money from insurance premiums to better use elsewhere, especially since the premiums charge them for services that they will never use (a single man does not need a mammogram, a single woman does not need prostate services). For some it is because they earn enough money to be able to pay cash for their medical services. Also included in that number are 11 million people who are already qualified for Medicaid and just have not signed up for it for whatever reasons there might be. When all is said and done, there are actually only about 16-17 million AMERICANS who are lacking insurance.

NOW, that being said, should we do something to address that problem. YES!!!! But why completely change the entire system just to cover those folks. Why not focus on the reasons they don't have insurance and do something about that why instead of messing around with everyone else's coverage? I will give what I think is the answer later.

Are there other problems that exist in the system? Yes, there are. Many of those problems exist because of present laws and mandates that keep the insurance industry from providing such things as portability, being able to purchase policies across state lines, and purchase policies that cover only what you need them to cover. With the possible exception of portability, all the other things I have listed are prohibited by law--state and federal. So why are these particular prohibitions not being targeted?

Tort reform has actually been taken off the table for discussion. They won't even discuss the possibility of tort reform and yet that is an integral part of helping to bring down and keep down the costs to us all. When tremendous judgments for malpractice suits are given by juries, not all of that money goes to the family, there is a good chunk that goes to the lawyer(s) who work for the family. Should people be allowed to sue for malpractice? Heavens yes!!! I had a student years ago who was multiply handicapped because the doctor who delivered him was drunk at the time of delivery and screwed up. The family should and did sue the doctor, won the suit and was enabled to build a house for their child that meets his needs and will for the rest of his life. But, and this may sound really callous, when someone dies, all the money in the world will NOT bring that person back. It has been suggested that rather than malpractice suits being heard by a jury, they should be heard by a panel of doctors who have the medical expertise to understand the decision process through which another doctor will go. I know the argument against that will be that the docs will protect their own. That is why I think the panel should include patient advocates as well. Malpractice insurance rates are one of the reasons that costs are so high. 1. Doctors charge more to help offset the price they have to pay. 2. Doctors practice more defensive medicine in that they order tests to cover their rears, so they don't get sued. If the fear of being sued was not so high, they probably wouldn't suggest the tests. Of course it is still up to the patient to question whether or not a particular test is really necessary and decide whether or not to take the test.

I am NOT a fan of the government taking over our health care. I said I would answer the why earlier. I think the reason why Congress and the president are not focusing just on the parts that are broken but instead are trying to change the entire system for all of us is POWER. They want to have power over our lives in as many areas as possible. The government for years has tried (and I know that people will argue with me about this) to convince us that we cannot do this and that for ourselves and so we should let the government do it for us. I think back to Katrina and the mess that the aftermath was. Hundreds of people sat and waited for the government, the inefficient, inept government, to come save them instead of doing what they could for themselves. I realize that many of those people were poor and had problems with having funds to get themselves out of New Orleans. If it had been me, I would have started walking out of town and kept going until I got to some place of safety. I would not have just sat around waiting. There is not one program that the government presently runs that is run efficiently and economically. Medicaid, Medicare, the Post Office, Social Security, even the military (at least the part that the government runs) all cost plenty and yet quite inefficiently. I consistently receive mail for other people. I just learned about a woman who can get onto Medicaid, but only for a few months at a time before she is denied further coverage. My own sister is on both Medicaid and Medicare and yet there are things that are not covered by either. But also the incentive for her to really stop and think about her own health care is gone because she pays very little.

Most of all I object tremendously to the government trying to take away any of our freedoms. If the reform that is being discussed goes through, our freedom of choice is gone. Despite the statements to the contrary and unless the original provisions of the House bill are changed, we only get to keep our present health insurance until something about it changes. AND if we decide that we no longer like it, would like to find something more to our liking, the only choice we will have is the public option ie government run health care. That is not freedom. Further, unless it is changed, the law FORCES everyone to have insurance. Once again why? If this is the land of the free, where people are supposed to be able to make the choices that are best for them, why FORCE those who choose to not have insurance to get it? Once again, POWER and having that power over our lives.

There are those who will argue that the insurance companies already ration our health care. That is true in part. However, right now, if I don't like the way in which my present insurance company rations my health care, I am free to find another company through which to have insurance. Once Obamacare is passed, that freedom will be taken from me. If I don't like my present insurance, my only other choice is the public option.

I refuse to give up any more of my freedom to the government. I can decide for myself what my health care should be. I know my body better than anyone else on the face of the planet. I am well educated about my health and I will have the freedom to put that education to work for me. I don't need the government coming in, telling me once again that I am too stupid to figure out health care for myself and I should let them do it. NO I WILL NOT!!!! I am not stupid and I will make my own choices. If that means that I fight Congress tooth and nail, so be it. I will not surrender my freedom nor will I allow Congress to take freedom from anyone else. Freedom is that on which this country was founded. Freedom is what thousands of Americans, male and female, have fought and died to preserve for us through out the 233 years of our existence. I will not dishonor their sacrifice nor the sacrifice of their families by just rolling over as the government takes over.