Historic Harwich

Senior is Tired

 I regret that I have to abandon for a while my comments about how the various boards, commissions, and committees communicate in town in order to express some thoughts about the future of Harwich residents if the impending health care bill is passed. I do this with a total revulsion of the Democratic Party and the leaders who desire a government controlled health care system. I do not enjoy writing from frustration and anger. For expression, my thoughts usually turn to teenage cozy mysteries, poetry, and innocent short stories, but now I'm tired.

At age 76, I'm tired because of the energy drained away by anger.

I'm tired from physical problems of old age and a lot of other things, BUT,

I'm tired of our elected officials agreeing to go along with governance out of Chicago, Nevada, and San Francisco, the Obama-Reid-Pelosi way, turning a deaf ear instead of listening to constituencies other than captured audiences. Why did we not have town halls on health care on Cape? Surely, it must be because the Cape is primarily Democratic with a population assumed to fall in line like sheep behind them or was it because our reps feared what might come out.

I'm tired of thinking that we have TAXATION WITH REPRESENTATION and that my children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren will suffer the consequences of the huge deficits we now have.

            I'm tired from contemplating that our representatives will be re-elected even though they haven't stood up to the uninhibited leadership in Congress when they must know how troublesome the current policies are. I'm ashamed of the approval ratings of Congress of which they are a part. I don't care who runs as long as they show up with a set of values and strong support for the Constitution and oppose obvious House and Senate leadership's jamming through legislation without adequate debate. Only when they heard loud outcries did the leadership respond. They can't be trusted to act on their own conscience. They don't have one.

            On TV, I saw the House Rules Committee in action as they sat back like sacks of flour refusing to allow any Republican amendments. They acted like puppets. The Chair pulled their strings and their mouths opened to say Nay, the only response they had to bi-partisanship.

I'm exhausted after reading House Bill 3962 (the Pelosi Bill) that provides for a government takeover of the health care system and does absolutely nothing to improve health care, relies on taxes on middle class families, punishes small businesses, and unfairly taxes the rich under a "new distribution of wealth plan" and, under the guise of "providing needed health care insurance for all, the bill is loaded with mandates and punitive measures, including jail time, for anyone not joining the government's "exchange." Our Massachusetts contingent could have stopped it, but they didn't.

I'm exhausted from worry over forthcoming cutbacks in Medicare, despite all the promises to the contrary. House Bill 3962 gives the power to a "Commissioner" to cut services if revenue falls short and I'm tired of hearing the promise that $500 billion will be saved through cutting of fraud and abuse. Get ready for rationing all you seniors out there. Why should anyone trust this government (either party) until it demonstrates that it can do more than create Cash for Clunkers and offer extended unemployment benefits in lieu of job creation. If fraud and abuse are going on, FIX IT NOW instead of using it as a foil to fund the huge bureaucracy that will be built over the next three years if the bill is passed.

Having been caught up in layoffs in the 80s, I'm exhausted from having flashbacks of those days when I spent every waking moment looking for a job, taking extra courses of study, trying in vain to manufacture a new career to no avail; similar to what is happening to many people now. The Stimulus Bill has been totally misdirected away from help for small businesses, has inflated government jobs and accomplished little at great cost.

I'm tired of being a shareholder in GM. I want to sell my shares and get out.

I'm tired of the "too big to fail" mentality.

As a senior, I'm tired of the administration's attempts to look compassionate and to buy my vote to curtail my anger by offering my wife and me another $250 in lieu of the no cost of living increase in my Social Security check. I should say "keep it", but it is my money coming back to me. You won't get my vote despite your "generosity".

            Why am I including these thoughts in this blog? Mostly because I sit at home feeling like there is no one listening. Under the current circumstances, why should we send another Democrat to office when we know that he/she will cave in to the leadership in both House and Senate?

I'm ashamed of our Massachusetts contingent like never before in my life. I'm seriously worried about Harwich and its high percentage of elderly citizens. I'm worried about the future of Harwich's small businesses. I'm worried about young people who will struggle to pay the increases in taxes before the health care bill kicks in in 2013 while over 100 bureaucracies are being set up to administer this frightening government plan. If you expect to live beyond 2013, I would worry.

I welcome comments, especially if you are in support of the bill. The Senate version will be different, but I expect the underlying policies will remain the same. Our sleazy leadership will find a way to impose their will and I expect our Massachusetts contingent will sit back, too, like sacks of flour. All of the coming events will affect Historic Harwich in historic ways.