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Think before voting

EDITOR:

In less than a week we are having one of the biggest elections that isn’t a presidential year election. We are going to decide if the Senate and the House of Representatives will stay under the power of the Republicans or if the Democrats will have the majority in one or both Houses of Congress.

Recently I was watching a recap of Republican ads saying that they were the ones that were going to protect your right to insurance coverage. The problem is, that if you look at their voting history you can see that they are voting to destroy the Affordable Care Act or as it is commonly known Obamacare. I totally agree that they need to make improvements in Obamcare because it did have some flaws. But voting to get rid of it hurts everyone that has a preexisting condition. That is more than half of all Americans. Even pregnancy is considered to be a preexisting condition.

We have to decide if we are for the people who need affordable and available coverage or the insurance companies, their CEOs, their shareholders and anyone else standing in line to get your health care dollars while providing you nothing additional. Look at the person’s voting history before choosing them. Remember they are supposed to work for you and not for the insurance companies.

Another thing to think about is that the Republicans voted one of the biggest tax breaks in recent history. Instead of helping to reduce the deficit it has increased to amounts never seen before. When it was being passed, the Republicans said it would cause businesses to build factories, hire people and raise wages. Instead, they have used the money to buy back shares of their own stock, give money to their executives and increases in dividends to their stockholders.

The Republicans are now planning to use the Social Security fund and Medicare money to reduce the deficit. The problem is that this money is our money, paid in by us as an insurance for our future needs. It is not part of the general budget. They keep calling this entitlements and they are entitlements as we are entitled to have the money we paid in during all our working lives. It would be the same as if we all had to give them our paid-off homes or autos to be sold to bail out their financial foolishness. Ask your senator if you can have his/her car or house. You already know the answer to that.

Vote to keep what you already own and vote for people who can and will honestly manage our countries finances. That is what they promised in their oath of office. Sadly most of the current Senate has failed in this area.

Think before voting. We can’t go on the same path we are on or we might destroy our economy for generations. An overwhelming majority of the American people list health care as their most important issue and a similar majority wants Medicare expanded for all. That is because that would be the most cost effective way to keep us all healthy and keep our health care affordable. Think. Then vote. If you do it wrong, guess who will pay?

Melissa Lison

Florence, Wis.

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