Dear Representative Steve Pearce of New Mexico,
WE THE PEOPLE
Is anyone out there truly listening to the people? The people are suffering. The economy is low and tyranny reins high and mighty. The founders of our great Country once acted on behalf of what was best for the people, not only themselves. That was the standard that was set. Why isn't it being followed?
EXEMPTIONS
Why are there amendments to laws that exempt our nations leaders? Would it not suggest that if our lawmakers have a problem with a law, then it is not in the best interest of the people? Did you forget about us? "We the People". "We the People" who elected each and every one of you into office based upon the platforms and ideals you presented to us. Is it not then, your obligation to fulfill your promise to represent "We the People"? Should you not be subject to the same laws that govern us? You cannot lead a horse unless you are tied to it walking the same ground. You cannot ask us to walk across a river while you row in a boat.
AFFORDABLE CARE ACT
I do not understand the rush to impose "Obamacare" on "We the People". The problem with our nation's healthcare is not in the shape and form of insurance. The problem with our nation's healthcare is healthcare itself. Why do we even need insurance? Insurance has driven up the rates of healthcare so that the uninsured
cannot afford healthcare. This is a revolving door and requiring
EVERYONE to have health insurance is only going to make this revolving
door worse. The original purpose of insurance was with the idea that if you paid your insurance premiums, then when you went to the doctor, you wouldn't have to pay for it. It was a way of paying ahead so that in case of emergency, you would be covered and not out of pocket for the expenses. Now insurance means, you pay monthly premiums and your co-pays and you have to keep paying out of pocket until you meet your deductible and then, and only then, does your insurance actually do what it is supposed to do. If you are someone who rarely visits the doctor, then you never meet your deductible and at the end of the year it starts over. Meanwhile, you've still been paying on this premium.
In July, my healthcare premiums skyrocketed at the impending implementation of this law. Why did my rates go up? I've had health insurance almost my entire life. Why is my insurance company now gouging me to make room for cheaper plans for others? I don't even know what my insurance company's reason for the rate increase was or why it was deemed necessary, especially since we just had a previous rate increase the year before. Medical care rates have not increased, so why did my premiums? Now, not only am I paying more for my insurance monthly, but my co-pays have also gone up. I am out even more money out of pocket for my healthcare. I thought the idea behind this law was to make healthcare affordable? It hasn't. The law has already made my family's healthcare more expensive. And I know I am not the only one that this has effected.
The problem with our nation's healthcare is medical billing. The problem with healthcare is the exorbitant amounts of money charged by doctors and hospitals for healthcare. The worst part about this cycle is that these medical institutions actually bill you MORE if you have insurance and offer you huge discounts if you are self pay. I know this, because it has happened to me on several occasions. Many hospitals offer "discounts" to people on a self-pay plan. If you set yourself up as a self-pay and then receive an insurance settlement (because of say, a car accident), the hospital then cancels the discount and makes you pay the full amount. I learned most of this after a car accident where the other driver was cited at-fault. I set all of my medical needs as self-pay with payment pending because I didn't want to get my insurance involved because I didn't want my premiums to be affected. I realized in these dealings that I was billed for services I did not receive and that the billing rates were different if you had health insurance. I also learned that they had a completely different billing cycle if an auto policy was paying the bill. I only asked for enough money in the settlement to cover the medical bills incurred. After the hospitals changed their rates from the original billing, I was once again, out of pocket for medical bills. The problem with our nation's healthcare is that there is no regulation over billing practices. Because of this lack of regulation and standardization, hospitals and insurance companies are running rampant. Because of the current medical billing and insurance factors, healthcare is no longer affordable in our country. Medical facilities bill insurance companies more than general consumers and drive up the insurance premiums to a rate that few can afford and because they have charged the insurance companies higher rates, the medical facilities raise all of the rates (because as an insurance representative once told me, medical facilities are not allowed by law to charge insurance companies more than general consumers, but they do). THIS IS THE PROBLEM WITH HEALTHCARE IN OUR COUNTRY!
TERM LIMITS
"We the People" would like to see term limits placed on everyone serving in a public capacity. We would like to see an amendment to our all term limits, including legislative and executive offices, that would not allow any sitting official to run for reelection without sitting out one term in-between.
FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY
"We the People" want to thank our governing body for passing last minute resolutions to keep our soldiers pay in tact during this forced Furlough. What we do not tolerate is that, you, our legislative branch of government will still be receiving your paychecks during this time. If I make a mistake at work, I am forced to pay the consequence. Any other American at work can tell you that if they do not meet their deadlines or responsibilities, then they can be held responsible for the financial fallout. Why aren't the Executive and Legislative branches being furloughed for not being able to do their jobs. You have one of the easiest jobs in our country. You have a voice. You have been elected to use your voice. "We the People" need you to use your voice! If the budget cannot be balanced, then start cutting pay at the top. I have never understood why job cutbacks happen at the bottom. The bottom are the people that work the hardest and are paid the least. Each of our Representatives, Congressmen, and other leaders could save 1000s of jobs by offering up a portion of their own paychecks. I understand the American Dream. I want the American Dream as much as the person next to me, but I am also not afraid to give a little of my extra (when there is, but not so much now thanks to my insurance rate increase) to those that need it.
ROYALTY
"We the People" would like to have someone remind our President that he is not a monarch or a dictator. He does not rule independently of the people. The royal family, excuse me, the First Family is making a mockery of our Country. They have placed themselves on a pedestal and declared themselves better than everyone else. Our President has bowed down to the leaders of other countries and openly apologized for the American People. He is not our ambassador of forgiveness, he is our Commander and Chief!
ACCOUNTABILITY
Our Legislative branch needs to do a better job of playing it's role in the system of checks and balances that we are all taught about in high school government. Our president needs to be held accountable for his actions! Our President shares an equal role in what is going on in our government and needs to be brought before the Legislative branch to answer for many of these questions and short falls that are constantly happening during his term in office. Why is he so determined to pass into law, items that he has exempted himself and his family from. If these laws are so important, then he should also be subject to them and so should the rest of our government officials.
EQUALITY
There are inequalities in our country that need to be addressed, but when the Man on top gives himself special license because of his racial origins, then he does not represent this country at all! This country is still fighting for equality. Except, in some parts of our country the tables have already turned so that the only people who get to fight for their equality are those people with designated ethnic backgrounds. "We the People" were excited to have our first 'minority' President. We has hoped that this close the gap that still exists in equality. It has not. The President has now become a beacon of inequality. If we are truly to fight for equality in this country, then everyone needs to have access to the laws and services that fight for equality, no matter their ethnic, sexual, or gender background. EVERYONE should be represented.
LIES AND DISHONOR
"We the People" would like every elected official to go back through their own campaign goals and answer to themselves whether or not they have truly met the promises that were issued. We vote based on who can offer the best future for us. We are tired of the Lies. We are tired of the dishonest behavior. We are tired. We are overworked and tired.
THE ENTITLEMENT GENERATION
The working class Americans are absolutely exhausted and our numbers are dwindling to a point where our votes don't even matter. We are looking at a new era of Americans called "the entitlement generation". This era of Americans have been told they are entitled to a better living, that they should be given everything and that they don't have to work for it. Meanwhile the rest of us are working ourselves to the point of breaking just to watch our government give our hard work to the next person waiting in the entitlement line. This New World Order that our President is trying to bring about is only going to make matters worse. Our country is losing its workers because there are fewer and fewer benefits to being a worker. If you work hard, you will get taxed more. If you work hard, your insurance premiums will go up. If you work hard, we will take part of your tax money and just give it to this person over here who doesn't want to work. If we keep taking from the workers, exempting the rich, and giving to the lazy, we will only further degrade our country. It used to be you had to work for everything. Now, you just have to whine about how unfair everything is and you will just be given what you want. I will keep working while I can.
SOCIAL SECURITY REFORM
What? Are you serious? Social Security is not a line item in the general tax budget. Social Security is not funding by the general budget. Social Security IS it's own line item. Social Security is there because it was deemed necessary and we have all been paying in to this system. The only reason Social Security is running out of money is because the funds have been mismanaged and commingled with the general budget. Stop playing with our future! If social security is that big of a burden on the National Government, then abolish the tax. Continue paying out to all of those Americans that are collecting it now for the rest of their lives, just like was promised, and reimburse the rest of us the money we have paid in so that we can go make our own arrangement for our futures. Don't forget to reimburse all of the small business owners that pay in on behalf of our employees. That is the only way to get rid of Social Security, and I am betting that this option will cost a lot more than the current plan. Not all of us make enough money right now to just set aside for down the road. Not all of us have retirement funds. Leave Social Security alone.
WELFARE REFORM
Yes Please! Just like there should be term limits on our governing officials, so should there be limits to the amount of welfare one person should receive. There should be test and guidelines for welfare. Yes, welfare recipients should be drug tested and should have to show receipts for all purchases. I am sick and tired of watching people buy groceries with food stamps while wearing designer clothing and then driving away in a brand new top name vehicle! Welfare recipients need to be held accountable for their own spending. Welfare recipients should be given a time limit to the amount of time they can be on welfare. Perpetual welfare recipients are a burden to society. MOST IMPORTANTLY, WELFARE SHOULD BE EQUAL. Welfare benefits should not be based on race or gender. That is ridiculous! It costs the same amount of money to live off of no matter what your racial background is. I lived six months of my adult life without health insurance while I was in college. During that time I became ill and spent 3 days in the hospital. My bills for those three days equaled almost half of my annual salary. I had no way to pay the bill and was directed to the indigent funds office where I was told, I made too much money for my background (white), by $200.00. I was then directed to the welfare office, where I was once again denied, because, for no other reason than I was too responsible and made too much money. Only after exhausting all of these resources and being humiliated at every turn, did the hospital step in and offer private assistance with my bills. Maybe my ideas for reform are a bit radical, but this is a problem!
WE THE PEOPLE
"We the People" would like our governing bodies to start acting like they are also a part of "We the People". Please, govern us like you would like to be governed yourself. We have to stand united, or we will fall.
SUMMARY
I am not speaking for every American. I am speaking for myself. I am sharing with you some of the concerns and beliefs of my friends and families. Some of my concerns are the result of the sensationalized news media (which is a problem in and of itself). But, I am a member of "We the People". I am an American. I am a New Mexican. I have lived in New Mexico all but approximately 2 years out of my childhood. I am a teacher. I am a small business owner. I am a Woman. I am a Wife. I am a Mother. I am a Daughter. I am a Granddaughter. I am a fighter. I will not be governed by a dictator or sovereign. I stand against injustice even and especially when it is not in my best interest. I want a better America for my son. You are my Representative. I doubt any of this will do any good for any of us here in America, but it makes me feel a little better to know that I have written it. If none of this means anything to you then at lease refresh this document.
DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE - as taken from the National
Archives Website.
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people
to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another,
and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal
station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a
decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should
declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created
equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable
Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of
Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted
among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,
--That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these
ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to
institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and
organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to
effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that
Governments long established should not be changed for light and
transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that
mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to
right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.
But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the
same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism,
it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and
to provide new Guards for their future security.--Such has been the
patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity
which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The
history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated
injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment
of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be
submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing
importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should
be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend
to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large
districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of
Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and
formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual,
uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records,
for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his
measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause
others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of
Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise;
the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of
invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that
purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing
to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the
conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of
Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to
our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to
their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders
which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring
Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging
its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument
for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to
compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with
circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most
barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas
to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their
friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured
to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian
Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction
of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in
the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only
by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act
which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We
have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to
extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of
the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have
appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured
them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations,
which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence.
They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We
must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our
Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in
War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America,
in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the
world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by
Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and
declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free
and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to
the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and
the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and
that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War,
conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all
other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for
the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection
of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our
Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
The 56 signatures on the Declaration appear in the positions indicated:
Column 1
Georgia:
Button Gwinnett
Lyman Hall
George Walton
Column 2
North Carolina:
William Hooper
Joseph Hewes
John Penn
South Carolina:
Edward Rutledge
Thomas Heyward, Jr.
Thomas Lynch, Jr.
Arthur Middleton
Column 3
Massachusetts:
John Hancock
Maryland:
Samuel Chase
William Paca
Thomas Stone
Charles Carroll of Carrollton
Virginia:
George Wythe
Richard Henry Lee
Thomas Jefferson
Benjamin Harrison
Thomas Nelson, Jr.
Francis Lightfoot Lee
Carter Braxton
Column 4
Pennsylvania: Robert Morris
Benjamin Rush
Benjamin Franklin
John Morton
George Clymer
James Smith
George Taylor
James Wilson
George Ross
Delaware:
Caesar Rodney
George Read
Thomas McKean
Column 5
New York:
William Floyd
Philip Livingston
Francis Lewis
Lewis Morris
New Jersey:
Richard Stockton
John Witherspoon
Francis Hopkinson
John Hart
Abraham Clark
Column 6
New Hampshire:
Josiah Bartlett
William Whipple
Massachusetts:
Samuel Adams
John Adams
Robert Treat Paine
Elbridge Gerry
Rhode Island:
Stephen Hopkins
William Ellery
Connecticut:
Roger Sherman
Samuel Huntington
William Williams
Oliver Wolcott
New Hampshire:
Matthew Thornton
Thanks,
Summer
To all of my blog followers, yes, I emailed this to my representative. Maybe you could copy and paste it to one of your representatives. Just don't forget to add the link to my blog. Remember Plagiarism is a crime too.
