Politics has made people stop caring

Carolyn Robins, Las Vegas

Friday, July 6, 2012 | 2 a.m.

The robocalls are already arriving, warning that the Affordable Care Act will bankrupt the nation. Nonsense! The scare tactics have begun, and more will surely follow.

When this bill was first passed by Congress, President Barack Obama made it clear that the bill would not affect people who already had insurance — except that now their insurance companies cannot cut them off or raise their premiums on a whim — both good provisions of the law.

Further, these people will not be subject to a penalty, or a tax, whichever you want to call it. Since the vast majority of people already have insurance, a vote by any of these people to repeal the law would not be a vote against the president but a vote against a minority of our citizens — individuals who have been unable to buy insurance, either because of their financial situation (many are still jobless) or because of pre-existing conditions. This is both an immoral and selfish position for any of us to take.

One of the goals of our government, set forth in the preamble to the Constitution, is to “promote the general welfare.” At what point did we forget about the “general welfare” and decide, selfishly, that we don’t care about each other?

I refuse to believe that we have stopped caring. We are being persuaded by politicians, eager to be elected, to abandon our values and to deny health care for those who need it.