The VP debate promises more of the cheap shot, misquote, fict-fact (fiction presented as facts), cheapening both the process and reducing the ability of Americans to choose leaders that will represent them and our country.
Still, in terms of Affordable Care, there is hope. There is hope for treating the behaviors exhibited during this behavior such as the inability to answer direct questions, the inability to deliver the entire truth, the inability to change behavior based on meaningful fact, the inability to overcome superiority complexes and any other number of psychological and psychiatric disorders that are being displayed by our candidates.
In 2014, as part of the Affordable Care Act, mental health services will be mandated to become part of coverage for insurance plans listed in health insurance exchanges. Naturally, these coverages, combined with the removal of the preexisting condition limitation means that our candidates, both of whom have enough money so that they can pay for the increased expense of such coverage, will have access to tools to help them overcome the behaviors delineated above that they have so shamelessly displayed during this campaign.
For the American people, the future is not as bright. We’ve been given fict-facts instead of truth regarding almost every meaningful aspect and “talking point” of the election, prepared, processed, sanitized and delivered to us in a fast food package that rarely reflects its original truth.
If you hear a “fact” upon which you’re basing your vote, go out of your way to find out more. Determine whether the mere election of a candidate means that what you’re basing your vote on will come to be.
If you hate Affordable Care, do not rely on its repeal as the basis of voting for Romney, for that will take Congress and even then, as in the instance of the Supreme Court Case, the approach may be consideration of specific provisions of the Act rather than its complete repeal. Medical systems have been working to implement Affordable Care for two years, and that work is not going to be erased to return to a time before Affordable Care. Several medical systems have already indicated that they will continue to move forward with modifications they’ve begun.
Similarly, if you’re voting for the President because you’re afraid of repeal of Affordable Care or because you’re awaiting the implementation of features of Affordable Care, remember that those features require funding or other action in order for them to be implemented.
What I will be looking for is Paul Ryan’s commitment to Mitt Romney, the Mitt Romney who spoke at the first debate, not the empty suit being led by the nose by the extremist elements of the Republican Party and by Paul Ryan, clutching a copy of his Ryan budget that though defeated he still hopes to shove down the throats of the American people.
If Ryan cannot fully support what Mitt Romney communicated during the debate, we’re left only with the impression that Mitt Romney cannot rise above the hostile, insular, rigid vein of the Republican Party known as the Tea Party that have left reasonable Republicans wondering about the disarray of their party.
What I will be looking for from Joe Biden is a deep understanding of the typical voter that he once was, decades ago when he began in politics that will allow him to put aside bumper sticker lingo such as, “Bin Laden’s dead and GM is alive,” and bring his expertise and intelligence to a discussion of the continued pain being experienced by Americans.
One liners and a “stay-the-course” message can only underscore how out of touch the Presidency has become, married to its own ideas about the glory of civil service, illegal immigrants, and unions dismissing seriously significant elements of the middle class that are none of those and that are asked to keep footing the bill for bills that at best help them in no way and that at their worst work against genuine middle class interests. In other words, it’s time for democrats to take a page from the flip-floppers and etch-a-sketchers and adjust their approach in the face of the dynamics of reality.
What I believe we’ll get is entertainment not information, which will reflect the arrogance and egotism of those in power, and a deep disrespect for those whose votes they desire.
