Openly political—skip if you want, but I hope you won’t

I try not to devote my blog to politics or the volatile climate in this country and, specifically, in Texas, but there are some things I can’t resist putting into words.

One of my earliest public memories is of seeing a woman jump out of a car and yell, “Hooray! Hooray! Roosevelt is dead.” I went into the house to tell my mother, and she said, “Hush. Don’t talk that way.” I didn’t know then, as I do know, that a lot of people, like my parents, thought he was a god on a pedestal but there were hard-core haters. I suppose they disliked the New Deal, the CCC, Social Security, and other programs designed to protect middle- and low-income Americans.

Since then I have seen dislike, often extreme, for the leaders of our nation. I myself admit to highly negative feelings about Richard Nixon and even more so about George W. Bush, though in the latter case it was less hate that despair at his foolish decisions.

I don’t think, however, I’ve ever seen such unprecedented hate as President Barack Obama is experiencing. It both amused and saddened me a few days before Christmas to see a picture on Facebook of a large, float-like vehicle emblazoned with the slogan, “Impeach Obama!” From time to time you see other calls for impeachment on Facebook.

What I wonder is on what grounds? I still don’t understand the legal grounds for the impeachment charges against Bill Clinton. What would you charge Obama with? Policies you don’t agree with? Don’t think that’s written into the constitution. Lurking always in the background, though many deny it, is the charge of being black. In the land of the free and of equality, that surely is not a crime. Treason? Hardly. Economic misjudgment—that’s in the eye of the beholder and most of us aren’t as knowledgeable as the president is but I’m under the impression that our economic outlook is greatly improved.

Of course that leaves the Affordable Care Act. Republican politicians run ads that say, “Keep Obamacare out of Texas.” Not too long ago, I commented on such a post by David Dewhurst, asking him “Why?” Could he, I challenged, provide statistics. I have not received an answer—does that tell you anything? The ACA seems to be working well in states like Kentucky that have welcomed it; a surprising million and a half or somewhere in that area have enrolled in Texas, where Republicans have made it difficult it to impossible to enroll. They are sacrificing Texans’ health to their urgent desire to weaken our president and make him a failure. Many Texans, bombarded by misleading Facebook posts, editorials, etc., have not even investigated the enrollment procedures. If they did, they might be surprised at the savings and improved coverage they’d find.

I know a man who will say thousands of his clients have lost their policies—yes, they have because those policies did not meet the standards. He quoted astronomical amounts that new insurance will cost these people, but have they investigated the program? I doubt it.

Come on, Texans, get beyond the hate and the misleading media information. Dig into the fact and make your own judgments. Don’t let other people think for you.

And let’s stop the hate on Facebook.