Partisan Paranoid Protester

1. I am not partisan.

I can't be "partisan", for I claim no allegiance to any political ideology.

I vote with the issues and happen to find that currently, the Democratic Party LEAST represents me, or, at best, it MISREPRESENTS what I believe while working hard to convince me and other people who are more gullible that they actually follow Catholic teaching on Social Justice.

Um...no, they don't. They INCORPORATE some portions of Catholic Social teaching, but any idiot can do that by accident. Unfortunately in the case of our government, a LOT of idiots are actively working to deceive the people in this country and I refuse to be one of their Stepford Wives.

2. I am not paranoid

It is NOT "paranoid" to recognize that our own Government is trying to force something upon the American people, and in so doing, outright condemns and works hard to quash legitimate protest.

Can protests get out of hand? Certainly!

But since when is it proper for proud liberals to protest their pet projects (immigration, the war), while proud conservatives (pro-life, health care "reform" requiring tax-payer funded abortion "rights") are publicly villified, arrested, and denounced for exercising their same rights in the same way? Both have peaceful protests protected by our Constitution.

Personally, I find many protesters to be inane, tiresome, aggravating and often idiotic (no matter WHAT their belief.)

I ALSO am grateful to live in a country where we CAN have those protests, I am happy those protesters remind our government that we are a more-or-less Democratic country...especially when one agrees with the reigning regime.

Oh, wait!

...does anyone see anything wrong with my last sentence?

In this, I blame the media even more than I blame our government because...our government got their power through the media. And keeps it.

It's not "paranoia" to be upset that you really DO recognize unfairness in how legitimate concerns are being addressed.

And it's not "paranoia" to draw very clear parallels between what's happening now to what happened in the past in other countries with far more history and suffering...and wisdom...and who STILL voted in evil dictators such as Hitler and Stalin.

You may disagree, but you don't have the right to trample on the reality of history or what people of those countries have faced...and are watching happen in America now.

The Arrogance of American politics will be our destruction unless we are willing to face history!

It's not a matter of political leanings...it's a matter of knowing history and recognizing TRUTH.

I'm not paranoid because I'm expressing an opinion that goes against the current flow. It means I actually have a brain and am engaging it rather than swallowing without question the current mantra of 'HEALTH CARE REFORM!" I'm not seeing how this is any kind of a "reform" at all.

Protester

Yes, I'm protesting. That part is correct.

I have been AMAZED at the vitriol and outright, hostile accusations made against people who have been speaking out against the "Health Care Reform" being shoved down America's collective throat.

I've been called all sorts of things, even in my minimal commentary on social networking. I've been villified and blocked by people who responded to an innocuous "RT" (retweet) on Twitter, people who CLAIM to be good Catholics. I've been accused of being PARTISAN but I wonder where anyone saw that I claimed allegiance to ANY party?

No. I respond to what is in front of me. I refuse to sell my soul to something of the world that can be voted out. My interest is in eternity, and in that interest, I want our government to be interested in Truth, which truly benefits us all.

Let me tell you the truth...

I grew up on welfare, so as a child, we received Medical Assistance. (MA). I think they covered everything we needed, actually, but if they didn't, I didn't hear about it or didn't understand.

When I was in college, I no longer qualified under Mom's MA coverage. I found that I MIGHT qualify for MinnesotaCare, and so I went to speak with a really condescending social worker in Steele County, and went through the humiliation of what they call a "spend down". It was a term I'd often heard Mom use growing up, but until I was there, myself, I hadn't the foggiest idea of what it meant.

I had to go through hours of this analysis, as a solid COLLEGE STUDENT, because we were homeless, Mom was in the hospital and on MA, and as a student, I wasn't making any money. As it was, there were two possible options for me. I could go through one plan that would cost me $6.00 per month, or I would be on MA.

Sure! I could afford that! $6.00! A ridiculously cheap amount! I WASTED more than that each week! And I liked the idea of contributing, after many years of being on welfare. I knew it was cheap because I'd researched the cost of health insurance for an independent college student.

But no...the State decided that $6.00 per month for me was too much, and that's why I had to go through the humiliating "Spend down". And it was made even MORE humiliating by the obvious condescending attitude of the social worker who assumed that because I was from a welfare family and lifestyle, I'd be on her desk forever.

And this is exactly the kind of person throwing their lot in with Obamacare and the "Reform".

So it was that I actually chose not to attend my next "spend down" and spent my college years without health insurance. I found the system ridiculous, illogical, and I refused to be a dead weight on society when it was clear that I could pay SOMETHING into my own medical care, even if it was minimal. I refused to endorse the system with my participation in a dehumanizing acquiescence given my own viability of being a productive member of society.

After all, if the outcome for one who went through the "spendown" every so many months was the same as someone who was introduced to the system through an emergency and humiliated there instead, I figured I'd wait and deal with the probem if it was needed instead of subjecting myself to it without need.

It was clear I wasn't wanted and I wasn't human...why put myself into that position? (And dare I say it? That attitude is probably why I never sought treatment and almost died in 1996 when I woke up unable to breathe. I'd rather die than be so dehumanized ever again. What's the difference?)

Since then I've been paying taxes into things for which I will never reap benefits. (Social Security, anyone?) Maybe that is Just. Maybe I'm just paying pack what I took from our country while growing up. Let's call it even now. I've more than paid back what I owed.

Now, leave me alone. And if you want to kill your infants, do it on your own dime. I want no part of that and refuse to pay it.

It's not paranoid to protest against rampant murder. Ask anyone in Nazi Germany or Stalin's Russia. Or current day India.

Let's be honest

The "health care crisis" in this country has everything to do with politics and nothing to do with reality.

I've seen many uninsured people go into the hospital and receive excellent care, for the people actually doing the work of caring are very good at it. They go into the medical field because they actually *gasp* want to HELP people!

My Dad was one of the people whose life was saved by this "awful health care system". He didn't have a job. Mom brought him to the hospital. They were long divorced but she was concerned about a physical problem he was having. He didn't want to go. As it was, he had dead bone removed from his foot in an emergency surgery which saved him from death by septic shock, and he spent a few months in a local nursing home.

I'm not sure who paid the bill, but no one told him "no".

Medical Debt isn't real debt

When I worked as a claims investigator, as a matter of course, we gathered financial records and credit reports. I learned quickly that medical debt meant NOTHING.

No one burned their car or arranged for their truck to be "stolen" in order to pay off medical debt. Even though it showed on a credit report that they had thousands in "collections", no one was pursuing them on those bills.

My manager told me early on to ignore medical debt in my assesments of potential fraud. Over time, I saw why: nearly EVERYONE had some kind of medical debt in collections. And their claim weren't fraudulent.

If they were, it was for a financial reason OTHER THAN past medical problems.

Now, don't use this to go out and get that plastic surgery you've always wanted. These people probably had medical emergencies and problems they couldn't control. Could happen to any of us.

At that time, I had good insurance and everything I needed was covered but for the copay.

Now, though, as I work for the Church, our insurance is outright crap, we have no choice, and quite honestly, I've avoided going to the doctor for over a year or so because I can't afford the bills that will come.

For you see, I have this reason of integrity of wanting to pay my bills if I can. I will go back to the doctor only if I think I'm dying.

The climate now actually makes medical debt more collectible, and everything...billable.

All we're paying for is administration of the paperwork...not our own care.

So yes, I believe reform is needed.

But not what's being shoved down our throats.

Reform needs RESEARCH. That's not an unreasonable demand to make.

It needs to be taken out of the government's hands and handled in a way that prevents partisan lines.

It needs to recognize the dignity of each and every human being from conception to natural death.

True reform isn't about politics; it's about people.

I see nothing in Obama's "reform" that has anything to do with humanity at all.

I refuse to ever be so dehumanized again as I was under the government system that ruled my health care as a child and a young adult.

You can argue politics all you want. But I lived the reality and I wouldn't wish it on anyone.

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