So this has been me since 10 PM on Monday night, all the damn time:
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| Liz Lemon Understands |
I don't usually write political rants, because I think it's fucking stupid and mostly just starts fights and you know me—I don't start things. But this is important. Because I am seriously so fucking angry. This is the last straw.
So I'm going to address some statements I've heard and tell you what's the deal behind them.
Statement Number One: I hate politicians.
Here's The Deal: Throughout my political science classes, I've been told that people have a great deal of support for our Constitution and our system of government, but don't trust the people IN said government. So what can you do?
Stop electing fucking idiots. Do your research. We as a people have the power to put people in office that represent our interests. If you don't feel your representative is doing a good job, DON'T REINFORCE BAD BEHAVIOR. If your dog bites you, you don't give it a treat; you tell that motherfucker off.
Also, NOT voting is often as bad as reelecting these people. You have no right to complain if you didn't go to the polls and things aren't going your way. That's like getting mad because your own dirty dishes are clogging up the sink. Fucking do something about it instead of letting it stagnate. House elections are next year. Get on it.
Statement Number Two: Obamacare is unconstitutional.
Here's The Deal: Seriously, just stop.
It's constitutional. The Supreme Court cleared this up last year. They made some amendments to the bill that have been put into effect. The Necessary and Proper Clause of the Constitution (which, for those of you following along, is Article 1, Section 8, Clause, aka Paragraph, 18) completely legitimizes this, and that was the majority opinion written by Justice John Roberts. The General Welfare Clause, in my opinion, is ALSO a decent backup (Article 1, Section 8, Clause 1).
It is STAGGERING the amount of people that don't know this. The internet is awesome. Alternate your cat video watching with some brief current events. It's not hard. It's like reading this, but with less profanity (sorry, I curse when I'm angry or exhausted, both of which I happen to be right now. It's been a rough year).
And if you still think a charged statement like this legitimizes your complaint against the Affordable Care Act, just get over it. This is now a purely political fight and not a legal battle. There is a distinction.
Statement Number Three: Obamacare suxs.
Here's the Deal: This is a political view that I'm going to preach. Personally, I think it doesn't suck.
Have you ever NOT had health insurance? My family didn't for about ten years because my parents were self-employed and we couldn't afford it. We're ridiculously accident-prone. When my brother was four years old, he jumped off the top of our staircase and predictably broke his elbow (you know, the cringeworthy arms-don't-bend-that-way break). We called an ambulance because he was going into shock. It took us FOUR YEARS to pay off that ride which lasted ten minutes.
Luckily, my dad's job now provides health insurance. But at one point, we were balls deep in those bills. Coverage helps so much. We're still breaking bones like we get paid to. But it's not nearly as bad.
Healthcare is a mess. The Affordable Care Act aims to make healthcare more affordable, reduce the uninsured rate of Americans, and stop discriminating against preexisting conditions.
If you already have employer insurance, Medicare, or Medicaid, you're cool. It won't affect you. You might even end up paying less. Individual states can decide whether or not to go along with the Medicaid expansion (Colorado has decided to go along, for those of you following along).
I still think that the Medicaid/Medicare needs to be more tightly regulated because unfortunately, people do indeed take advantage of the systems and that needs to stop. I'm not going to pretend to know how to do that. I'm not an expert. I'm a broke college student taking shots in the dark.
Of course it's going to cost more money. THAT'S HOW IT WORKS. But the long term trend is that it will help alleviate costs and make this ridiculous inflation of costs decrease in the coming years. And I think that'd be nice. If you want to see it in action, I'll refer you to Massachusetts, where essentially the same thing was implemented under the state government, under a REPUBLICAN (that was good old Mitt Romney, for those of you following along). Kay cool.
Statement Number Four: The Blame Game.
Here's the Deal: BOTH parties are at fault. Compromise is how this whole "politics" thing works. When people don't compromise, it's GOING TO BREAK LIKE IT IS NOW.
Republicans, I refer you to Statement Number Two. Seriously. You LOST. This has been a law for THREE YEARS AND THE JUSTICE SYSTEM THINKS IT'S TOTALLY LEGITIMATE.
Get rid of your extremist agenda. At the base of the GOP is some really good, pure ideology that I respect, and you should throw back to that, because right now you seriously suck so much and it's not even fair. Eat a Snickers, you're not you when you're hungry. Remember the days of Reagan? That's what your party is, and I wouldn't hate you so much if that is what you're getting at and not this fucking bullshit.
Democrats, I refer you to Statement Number Three. Get at the real issues. You can afford to be flexible on some issues in the Affordable Care Act. We HAVE to be flexible on some issues, because we literally can't afford anything else.
And seriously, if this is how we're acting on the spending bill, what is it going to come down to when we have to RAISE THE DEBT CEILING IN TWO WEEKS?
People ask me what I want to be when I grow up, and I am seriously so embarrassed to say that I want to be a politician because of what's happening lately.
So Congress, do your fucking jobs while you still fucking have them (I refer to Statement One), because I'm sick of the lot of you. Compromise. Work together. Do not make me hate my major and my life decisions. Because I do enough of that on my own.
Statement Number Five: We can smoke weed legally now that the government's shut down, right?
Here's the Deal: If you say this in jest, I think you're funny and we're probably friends, but if you say this in complete seriousness, I seriously hate you so much. That would be ACTUAL ANARCHY. Ever heard of federalism? Yeah, it's a thing. There is a balance between federal and state governments. And the people who throw you into jail for lighting up in public work for the STATES, which are still fairly functional.
So yeah. That's my rant. I'm just going to add one thing.
Maybe I'm just a huge fucking geek that loves this and I need to get a life that isn't so impossibly lame, but most of the issues I have with people stem from their complete ignorance. I LOVE having informed talks with people and I'm happy to discuss it with you if you're open and curious about it. But if you're acting like an authority on the subject and you're being a jerk and you refuse to open up when you don't have a clue, it isn't fun. It kind of makes me want to punch you in the face, and I'm not a violent human, usually.
So please, increase your constitutional literacy and keep up with the politics. A pocket Constitution is like three dollars. I have one in my WALLET if you want to borrow it sometime. The internet is a great resource. You can get Twitter updates. It's EASY to follow politics. Even if it's just a quick weekly update or something.
We are the fountain of authority in this nation. And we are SO LUCKY to have that. You don't even know. It's a republic if we can keep it, as Ben Franklin said. This whole thing only works with an informed populace, so if you want it to work out, you need to pull your own weight too.
Okay. I'm done.
On a lighter note, Season Eight of How I Met Your Mother was just posted to Netflix and all of my homework plans just fell to shit. So I'm off to do that.
Thanks for reading, and stay excellent. :)
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