Lies and Anger from the Right

A close friend pointed out that my tone lately, in response to the angry right, has been – less than ideal. Of course, I knew that. But sometimes it’s helpful to hear it. So thank you Brian.

I do think, however that the right has a serious problem. The 24-hour news cycle allows for a good deal of misinformation to get out there, especially when on-air personalities fan the flames for ratings. In many cases, this misinformation is easily disproved, but once the mobs have heard it, they refuse to let it go, even in the face of hard evidence.

Case in point, my wife’s family is from Alabama. Enough said? Bahaha, sorry Brian. But really, they’re from Fox News land. They believe that Congress is exempt from the new health care bill just signed into law, and they’re pissed off about it. Hey, I would be too, that’s awful. America must do this – except for us. Sounds like something to get mad about! Problem is, it’s not true.

“But Sean Hannity said…” is not a good enough reason to believe something. You must know this. Everyone. Here’s how the madness began.

Now, this is from the health care bill itself:

(D) MEMBERS OF CONGRESS IN THE EXCHANGE.-
(i) REQUIREMENT.-Notwithstanding any other provision of law, after the effective date of this subtitle, the only health plans that the Federal Government may make available to Members of Congress and congressional staff with respect to their service as a Member of Congress or congressional staff shall be health plans that are-
(I) created under this Act (or an amendment made by this Act); or
(II) offered through an Exchange established under this Act (or an amendment made by this Act).
(ii) DEFINITIONS.-In this section:
(I) MEMBER OF CONGRESS.-The term ”Member of Congress” means any member of the House of Representatives or the Senate.
(II) CONGRESSIONAL STAFF.-The term ”congressional staff” means all full-time and parttime employees employed by the official office of a Member of Congress, whether in Washington, DC or outside of Washington, DC.

To summarize: All members of congress MUST enroll in the newly established health care exchange. This is beyond what even the general public must do in 2014. All we must do is be covered – be it through private insurance, the new exchange, or Medicaid. Congress, knowing some folks would be worried about the quality of care in the new exchange, intentionally took one step further and mandated that they must be covered under the new exchange. That’s the opposite of exempt, isn’t it?

What happened is, Hannity latched on to some language found elsewhere in the bill, which exempts some members of the white house staff from this additional regulation. Which by the way, makes them just like any one of us. No one in America will be required to use the new health-care exchange, except for members of Congress and their staff. That’s nothing to be angry about, is it?

Look, as with any legislation, there are legitimate reasons to oppose this new bill. But this is not one of them. This is fabricated, this is lies, and this is being used to rile up the right.

Billy Joe: “Where’s my exemption?”
Bobby Sue: “Yeah! If it’s not good enough for them, why should I have to do it?”
Billy Joe: “Dirty rotten commies.”

(sorry Brian)

Feel free to oppose this, or any other legislation. But I beg you, don’t do so just because of what Sean Hannity, Billy Joe, or Bobby Sue says. At least take the time to consider that you’re being played.