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Health & Fitness

Sex, Lies, and Obamacare

It was more than a few years ago; Dear Abby got a letter from an upset mother. She had discovered that her teenage daughter was having sex and mom was unsure what to do next. In the past, she had done the things that a lot of mom’s used to do. She lied to her daughter about sex. She made sex before marriage out to be the worst evil in the world and not a lot of fun after the wedding. Mom lied outright, she distorted the facts, and she also fought the battle politically. She voted for like-minded people when they ran for school board and other offices. Mom was a, hear no evil; see no evil, head in the sand parent and voter. Mom had a happy fantasy world with “abstinence only” education in school and no need for the “Talk”at home.

Then mom found out her daughter was having sex. Mom knew other deniers like herself but she did not know any adults, so she wrote Dear Abby. Abby wrote that once a teenager had sex, all the previous lies by parents, teachers, and ministers would serve no useful purpose. What was done could not be undone. The genie was out of the bottle. The teenager instantly knew that she had been lied to and couldn’t trust liars in the future. Abbey said that there was only one way for mom and daughter to have any possibility of a future relationship, tell the truth. The mom would have to treat her daughter as an adult. Honesty and candor would be the cement for any future mother/daughter relationship. The fun part of sex would have to be acknowledged, so that the daughter would again have trust in mom when she talked about the responsibilities that came along with sex like babies, birth control and STD’s.

Lie, lie, and lie and when the truth is discovered do a 180 degree turn. This strategy has been used outside the home too. When Social Security and Medicare were passed, Republicans promised the end of civilization as we knew it. Over time, as many Republicans grew very fond of, if not dependent, upon these programs, their elected leaders had to do some fancy footwork. They went from being critics of these programs to supporters in order to stay ahead of their own voters and look like they were leading a parade, instead of being run out of town by an angry mob.

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Tom Price and Phil Gingrey have custom made districts that used to allow them to say silly things like, “I support these programs and want to help them by privatizing them.” They quit the silly talk about privatizing after their pollsters told them they would stay in office a lot longer if they kept their mouths shut on this subject.

The Affordable Care Act, Obamacare, has been the law for four years. The health care genie is out of the bottle. It is about time for the Republican 180 degree move. Technical problems will not stop the inevitability of Obamacare. Although, the glitches do provide Republicans a temporary opportunity to change the conversation from how the Republicans stopped government, almost defaulted on the debt, and watched their rating go to an all-time low.

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Republicans passed Medicare Part “D” when George Bush was president. The Bush Medicare Part “D” drug plan was a gift to the drug industry and flawed in its design. It was a bad law but it was the law. Democrats worked to improve the law. Democrats explained to their constituent’s the positive aspects of the law. Hearings on this law were held six months after the law was passed. Six months gave the techies plenty of time to fix any problems.

In six months, America won’t remember the roll out glitches of Obamacare but they will remember the times that the Republicans stopped government and almost ruined the economy in order to appease the Tea Party wing of their party.

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