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July 12, 2017 02:06 PM UTC

A Human Appeal to Republicans; There but for the Grace of God Go I

  • 18 Comments
  • by: Michele Patterson

(Promoted by Colorado Pols)

While our government condemns the brutality in Syria our Republican leaders in Washington D.C. are preparing to inflict a different type of barbarism on Americans.  Make no mistake, the “Better Care Reconciliation Act,” a tax cut for the wealthy disguised as a healthcare bill, IS barbaric.  It will send our country spiraling back not just 6-8 years in time, but decades.

I want to ask our Republican leaders the following questions:

How can you care so little for the families who, today, rely on Medicaid for their very survival?  How can you be so callous?  Are tax cuts to 400 wealthy families in America truly more important than the thousands of Americans who need Medicaid to live?  Since when does the “good of the few” outweigh the “good of the many?”

Your congressional approval rating is a dismal 21% (according to Gallup) and the approval rating for your “healthcare” bill is even worse, at 17%.  This is clearly NOT what Americans want, why do you continue to push forward?  Does the will of the people no longer matter?

There are people who will die if your bill passes and others whose families will be left destitute because of it.  Where is the humanity in any of this?  Where is your compassion?

And don’t hand me this “personal responsibility” garbage. How is a baby born with a heart defect personally responsible for their health issue?  How is the father, crippled after a drunk driver hits him, personally responsible for his new disabilities?  How is the teen girl, recently diagnosed with MS or the child who has thrice-battled cancer personally responsible for what’s happened to them?  Are they supposed to have saved money for these possibilities? On the continually declining median wage?  On the minimum wage that leaves their families in poverty?

Oh, sure, we can all do our best to be as healthy as we can be but there are always circumstances beyond our control:

– My father had a heart attack at 50 while he was out jogging. Please tell me how he doesn’t deserve medical care?  Was he supposed to see the heart attack coming?

– My youngest child was born two months premature due to an abrupted placenta. How was he personally responsible for this? How was I?

– My youngest also had bacterial pneumonia at age 5, his right lung crushed under a pile of pus. He needed three surgeries and several minor procedures afterward. How was he personally responsible for that?

– My mother had debilitating Rheumatoid Arthritis that left her wheelchair bound and in constant agony the final year of her life. Please. How was that her fault?

My family is lucky.  We’ve almost always had insurance coverage.  However, we did experience long-term unemployment several years ago.  With barely enough money to put food on the table, we had to rely on the CHIP program to insure our three young children.  It was during this time my youngest son contracted bacterial pneumonia.  Government assistance saved his life and I’m grateful for it every time I look at him.

Was his life not worth saving?  Are the lives of thousands of children with various medical issues and/or disabilities not worth saving?  Please tell me, Republicans, which children ARE worth saving?  Could you stand in front of a line of fifty 3-year old babies and choose which of them should live and which of them should die? That is, in essence, what you’re doing with this bill.

Or is it only those who are lucky enough to have wealthy parents who deserve to survive unpredictable illness, disease or disability?

As Republican leaders you claim to be “pro-life.”  You would demand an end to a woman’s right to reproductive choice – not only abortion but access to birth control and basic care through defunding Planned Parenthood, which your bill also does – yet you are ending the mandate that insurance providers cover pre-natal and post-natal care.

Without pre-natal care my youngest child would not be alive today.  Pre-natal care saves the lives of hundreds of babies every year.

If you are willing to let a single person, a single child, a single infant, die simply to give tax cuts to people who don’t need them or to help insurance companies rake in more profit, you are NOT pro-life.  You are anything but.

How do you justify this cruelty to yourselves?  How does someone like Vice-President Mike Pence promote this cold-blooded bill and then sit in the front pew of his church on Sundays as pious as can be?

I’m deeply ashamed of my own state senator, Cory Gardner, who has not only ignored the desperate pleas of the disabled protesters at his office, but gone so far as to have them arrested.  How do you sleep at night, Senator Gardner?  How do you rationalize what you’re doing so you can ease your conscience?

I don’t know what else to say. I’m at a loss. I don’t understand.  Do you really want to kill Americans who happen to be less fortunate than you are?  “There but for the Grace of God go I.”

All I have left is an appeal to your purported Christian values, so I leave you with this:

Matthew 25:35, “I was hungry and you gave me meat: I was thirsty and you gave me drink: I was a stranger and you took me in: 36 Naked, and you clothed me: I was sick and you visited me: I was in prison and you came unto me.”

Matthew 25:40, “Verily, I say unto you, Inasmuch as you have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, you have done unto me.”

 

 

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18 thoughts on “A Human Appeal to Republicans; There but for the Grace of God Go I”

  1. For all those Bible-believing GOP'ers considering health care: Luke 10:30-37

    30 Jesus replied, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers, who stripped him and beat him, and departed, leaving him half dead. 31 Now by chance a priest was going down that road; and when he saw him he passed by on the other side. 32 So likewise a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was; and when he saw him, he had compassion, 34 and went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; then he set him on his own beast and brought him to an inn, and took care of him. 35 And the next day he took out two denarii[a] and gave them to the innkeeper, saying, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, I will repay you when I come back.’ 36 Which of these three, do you think, proved neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” 37 He said, “The one who showed mercy on him.” And Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”

    And the quote from Matthew about "visiting" the sick:  Amplified Bible makes the point even more clearly:  " I was naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me [with help and ministering care]; "

  2. So now the liberal Dems are quoting the Bible as the basis for health policy?

    How does that stack up with late term abortion which you all think is so special?

    2. So now the liberal Dems are quoting the Bible  

      Liberal Dems have been quoting the Bible for a long time. You don't own the words of  the Christ and you don't get to be the one who decides who is "worthy" to live because, "hey…it sucks to be poor….but…its not my problem. I need a tax cut."

      In my experience, many of the least "christian" people I know are Christians. Going to church doesn't make you a follower of Christs' commandments. And remember, Andrew, all you gotta do is read John 14:22-23:

      "how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? 23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

      You are keeping his commandments aren't you?

    3. No one thinks late term abortions are special. Don't try and overlay the entire non-Republican world with your assumptions. 

      By the way, back on point, do you think the Bible stands for denying your neighbors and mine health care? Do you believe tax cuts for the wealthy are mandated by the Bible? Do you believe that tax cuts trump healthcare for the poor? Where does the Bible and Christianity fit into your political philosophy and how the government should treat the citizens of this country, especially those less fortunate? 

    4. It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.   As to a rich man's craven shill, don't even think about it, Carnholio.

       "To die  rich is to die in disgrace.". – – The real Andrew Carnegie.

    5. 1.  Fact:  Late term abortion is EXTREMELY rare and happens for medical reasons that are between a woman, her family, and her doctor.

      2.  If you think anyone, liberal or otherwise, thinks abortions are special or wonderful or wants to see them happen you are a special kind of stupid.

        1. Clearly, facts are an inconvenience to you but Hillary actually said she was willing to restrict late-term abortions so long as exceptions were made for the health of the mother/aka medical reasons.

    7. Idiocy. Lifelong Lutheran and weekly church attender here, finding your assertion that only the anti-health-care pro-life-at-any-cost crowd believes in the Bible laughable. 

      This year alone I know a mother of two who died of cancer, and two others diagnosed with breast cancer. All are in their late 30s or 40s, none smoke, and they had no risk factors other than being female. Another friend of mine recently suffered from severe pre-eclampsia and HELLP syndrome while pregnant and delivered her baby at 26 weeks. That baby boy deserves every bit of health care and chance to live a long healthy life as anyone else. So do those women, and all of us. 

      Maybe you can show me the part of the Bible where Jesus says "blessed are tax cuts for the wealthy?" No? Huh.

       

      1. Empty: As you know that was not my assertion.

        Congratulations on winning your straw man argument.

        My point is the Dems use of the Bible as a basis for their health care argument is noticeably omitting a part of the Bible that inconveniently argues against their health care plan.

        1. 1.  Which part of your bible is that, Rabbi?

          2.  Which part of the US Constitution established your bible as the basis for governance?

  3. Michele, great heartfelt diary.

    Are the lives of thousands of children with various medical issues and/or disabilities not worth saving?  Please tell me, Republicans, which children ARE worth saving?  Could you stand in front of a line of fifty 3-year old babies and choose which of them should live and which of them should die? That is, in essence, what you’re doing with this bill.

    Or is it only those who are lucky enough to have wealthy parents who deserve to survive unpredictable illness, disease or disability?

    I'd love to hear Cory Gardner, Mitch McConnell, Donald Trump answer these questions. Heck, I’d donate to charity to hear Moderadufus, Always Circumventing, and Petulant Petunia answer them.

    1. Thanks. I wish I could understand the complete lack of compassion and empathy of Republicans who support this bill.  Then there's the fact that they whine and complain when it comes to funds for Medicaid, public education, Head Start, programs that help kids in poverty, etc. but you never hear a single complaint about pouring money into war and military might.  Congress just allocated $1.6 billion for the wall Mexico was supposedly paying for.  It makes me sick.

  4. Does the will of the people no longer matter? 

    No, Michele…to Mitch and the Republicans, it does not, unless those people are corporations. As we all remember Mittens telling us…."Corporations are people , my friend."

    Yeah…big, important people…not like you and me…or those three year old babies

    1. Sorry, Duke, I can't help myself. "I'll believe corporations are people when Texas executes one" How 'bout an oil company? That'd pay for a lot of people's care.

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