Paul Sassone

I’m proud to be an American.

I just don’t say it enough.

We seldom do. We expend our breath on politics, complaining about our elected officials.

But too seldom do we stand back and marvel at the system our Founding Fathers created to bring representative democracy into the world.

And for more than 250 years our system of government has — with amending and updating to meet conditions of today — time and again shown the best way for a people to govern themselves.

If we need proof of how well America can work we need look no further than the narrowly avoided health-care bill put forth by Republicans.

For years, Republicans told the American people the Affordable Care Act was a disaster. Donald Trump campaigned on the issue with a Disney-esqe vision of health care for all at little or no cost.

And the people voted.

And Trump was elected.

And he did indeed begin to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

But, what he and the Republicans substituted wasn’t some loveable Mickey Mouse but a fang-and-claw monster.

Under Trumpcare, millions of Americans would lose health insurance.

And in a politically inept and cruel move, the plan would have severely hiked health insurance premiums for senior citizens, the group it could be argued gave Trump the presidency.

Had the Republican plan succeeded Americans would die, become sicker and suffer financial ruin.

But the plan didn’t succeed.

Why?

For a plurality of reasons:

• Supporters of the Affordable Care Act raised their voices and confronted Republican lawmakers.
• Many Americans changed their minds when they saw what the GOP had in store for them and supported the Affordable Care Act.
• Health-care organizations to a group condemned the Republican plan.
• Democratic legislators stood firm in opposition to the Republican plan.
• Extremist Republicans wouldn’t support the bill. They wanted something even worse.

So, the Republicans failed for a plurality of reasons.

But fail they did.

Through plurality is how things are accomplished in a democracy.

Those Founding Fathers sure knew what they were doing.

–Founding Fathers knew what they were doing–