Dear Paul,
Can I call you Paul? Okay. Great. I haven’t taken the
time to congratulate you on your promotion to Speaker of the House. When I first
heard the news, I thought, ‘Well, Paul and I disagree on a lot of fundamental
things, but at least he is intelligent and has enough courage to do the right
thing in the difficult situation a divided congress often presents.’ You see,
Paul, I don’t know you, personally, but I know where you came from. The last
time you were home, in fact, my mom saw you in church. She prays for you, Paul.
I do, too.
Janesville, Wisconsin is a place that is difficult to
describe. I learned about right and wrong from the stories my grandmother would
tell over a boiling pot of goulash at 1107 Hamilton Ave. She would also pepper
our imaginations with the fairies that lived in the big oak tree and magic that
dances in bon fires. The house is gone now, but stories and memories are more
difficult to tear down.
My grandfather, however, taught me other lessons. He
taught me about hard work. He taught me how to make a living. He taught me how
to be proud of the work that I’ve done. He worked at GM for as long as I can
remember. And, when it left Wisconsin, there were a lot of people out of work
and out of hope.
The people of Janesville have recovered because
Wisconsinites have an uncanny way of moving Forward. We take our lumps and make
the best of the situation we’re given. We’ve learned right and wrong. We’ve
learned hard work. We’ve learned pride in ourselves and our home.
But, Paul, I gotta tell you some things. That health bill
you actually rammed through (as opposed
to the eight month process the Affordable Care Act underwent), it is not good
for many, many people. You had the House vote on it even before the
Congressional Budget Office could take a look at it and let the American people
know what American Health Care Act would cost.
I’m not talking money, here, Paul. Money can be made, and
money can be spent. I am talking about lives. Human lives. The plan you passed
would kick a whole slew of folks off of health care—people in your district,
people in Rock County, people in Janesville, your home town. I know you have
spent the past 13 years in DC; I can imagine it is hard to remember the farmers
in Evansville or the people living near Riverside Park. But, we need health
care. And, kicking it back to each state to determine who can and cannot get
quality, affordable care won’t work out as cleanly as you hope. There are going
to be a lot of sick people wearing Make America Great Again hats knocking on
your door demanding some answers.
Paul, you sold an idea. A flawed idea, but genius all in
the same. Your “health care” plan is a tax cut for wealthy people. Some wealthy
people are all for it, obviously. But,
here is the sneaky part. You sold this plan with the American Dream, with the
idea that ‘I’m not rich now, but I could be..someday.”
And, that is how you got it. The people who believe they will someday be
wealthy don’t want the government taking their hard-earned money when they have
it, in the future. But, the American Dream is just that, a dream. Rags to
Riches isn’t reality. There are systemic poverty and class structures designed
to keep people in their places.
We may not have castes, here, but do you know how
difficult it is to move up a social class? To move up several social classes?
You need good, quality public education. You need parents working at a livable
wage. You need public programs to form open and accepting communities. You also
need healthcare.
This, of course, is where we differ. It is important to
have fiscal conservatives to balance out my plans. But, it is a balance. There is some give, and some
take. But, Paul, with this health care bill, you just took. And, when the
Freedom Caucus said nah, we’re good,
you bent over backwards to appease them. You know who that doesn’t benefit? Your constituents.
Health care is obviously a big deal, a bigly deal, if you
will. But, I am much more concerned, Paul, with how you have kowtowed to our
new Commander in Chief. Remember in paragraph one, when I thought that we have
different ideals, but I appreciate your character? Well, I’ve got to say, I
have been unimpressed. You have stood by this man through a lot of hair-raising
details of how he chooses to live his life. And, just recently, you stood up
for him saying something like, ‘He is new to government. He is new to all of
this.’ It is okay to make several gaffs while being new to waiting tables or
even mis-shelving books in your new position at a library. But, for goodness
sake, he is the leader of our country.
A new rookie comes into the White House every four or
eight years. Your excuse of him being new to politics doesn’t hold water. If he
wasn’t ready for the job, we have several specific failsafes, all of which,
well failed. They all failed because the Republican elite, you and your friends
had neither the courage nor the gumption to stand up to him. He has taken your
party and made a mockery of it. There is a time and place to be a Republican.
But, right now, Paul? Right now, it is time for you to be an American.
Peace,
Katie Botsford
