For My Mental Health

I hate politics. Not because I don't care, but because if I allow myself to engage too much I could spend my life in constant heated debate, which just really wouldn't be fun at all.

But I'm having a hard time sitting back and observing this "health care war." I am probably what they would call a bleeding-heart Democrat. And I don't agree with all of the provisions in the bill that was just signed to law. But both points aside, I truly believe this is positive progress for our country and I am appalled by some of the idiocy this has brought public.

Yesterday I had to practically sit on my hands to prevent responses to some of the posts in my facebook feed. Just so I can let it go, I'm going to post here a few of the responses I wanted to write. Hopefully then I can relax. Although I don't think it will help me feel less sad. The greed and hatred in this world make me scared for the future.

FB: Wait, why do I have a sinking feeling we aren't an "average/typical" family?? And, why do I have a feeling we have the "cadillac" plan (and trust me - it SO is not!)

I feel very sorry for you if you do not realize how above average your life is. You live in a gorgeous home in a wealthy suburb and send your children to an exclusive private school. You are privileged to go on multiple vacations every year. You have two nice cars and every electronic gadget known to man. And, much more importantly than any of that, you are healthy! I know you gave a bag of food to the poor at Thanksgiving because you told us all about it on facebook, but maybe its time to really look past the golf course in front of your house - there's a big bad world of true suffering out there that fortunate people like you could really help. But, since this is all about you, let me point out that although this legislation may not help you directly, in the long run the collective benefit to society could lead to a more stable economy, which in the end could actually mean even more money for you. I hope that helps you feel better.

FB: [Name] thinks it is ironic that today, in history, the British Government passed the Stamp Act, which was the final straw to send the Colonies towards the Revolution. As I sit in the city where everyone signed the Declaration of Independence, I think the Founders wouldn't recognize our country today.

While you are on your business trip in New York I suggest you swing by the Statue of Liberty and read the words engraved at her base: "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door."

FB: I love this quote: "So we just passed a health care plan written by a committee whose chairman says he didn't understand it, passed by a Congress that exempts themselves from it, signed by a president who smokes, with funding administered by a treasury chief who didn't pay his taxes, all to be overseen by a surgeon general who is obese, and..... financed by a country that's broke?"

I'm sorry, but I really have to unfriend you. If you love that quote than I'm guessing we just don't have anything in common.

Sorry people, I just had to let it out.