Republicans, history and ACA

Rick Reynolds, Las Vegas

Monday, Dec. 9, 2013 | 2:01 a.m.

Reading a letter to the editor in Tuesday’s paper, “Obama will sink with the ACA,” gave me great hope. The letter writer’s predictions of gloom, doom and America’s ruin have been unfounded.

I think the Affordable Care Act is going to work fine. Despite overwhelming resistance and outright attempts to sabotage it, history suggests that it will work.

When Social Security was formed, it was after President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected with a Democratic House and 77 Democratic senators. Social Security gave dignity and actual worth to every American life. It wasn’t a gift or a handout; Americans paid for it.

When Medicare was formed by President Lyndon Johnson, he had a Democratic House and 66 Democratic senators. Medicare ensured that seniors would be provided necessary health care that would help them enjoy their golden years without health care costs or catastrophic injury taking away their life savings. It wasn’t a gift or a handout; Americans had to pay for it.

Obama barely got the 60 senators needed, but it was another moment on the timeline of our history that will mark another meaningful contribution to American quality of life. It is not a gift or a handout. Americans must pay for it, and they get a good product for their money.

Nothing, since 1980 at least, has been done by Republicans that wasn’t a direct or indirect benefit for the wealthy and well connected. I’m also mindful that some Republicans voted for Social Security and Medicare, but those were liberal and moderate Republicans; there seem to be none of them left in today’s Republican Party.

Misinformation, deceit and hyperbole are never necessary when trying to convince people that something is truly bad. The ACA will work.