I'm going to guess MA's letter is a concerned citizen contacting his representative. It's a waste of tax dollars when he "does his job." It is literally $trillions cheaper to have him answer letters .
The original text sent to Wyden, Merkley and DeFazio for those interested. None of the three return a any response at all to the questions asked. I sort of expect an attempt at a cogent response. Senator, The justification for the Affordable Care Act places a lot of blame on insurance companies the reasons people do not have coverage. Why are Insurance companies the scape goat? 43% of Americans (61% of non Medicare) get their health insurance from an employer that is self insured. About 15% are on Medicaid. Nearly 14% are on Medicare. Almost 4% are in military health care. About 9% buy private health care insurance. Around 10% are uninsured citizens. About 5% are uninsured aliens. Many of the self insured plans are administered by an insurance company but the employer has the final say on major decisions. It seems correcting what insurance companies do or don't do can't be the whole problem since they actually cover a minor percentage of the population. Why tax the employers for the health insurance they provide? Why put the existing coverage in jeopardy with this tax? Do you expect this tax to produce revenue? Why do you expect this tax to produce revenue? Regards, MarAzul
Why would you expect that? Don't you realize there are thousands of MarAzul's out there writing angry missives to their congresspeople? Do you really support an expansion of government so that each of them can get a personalized response to their grievances? If that did happen, would you then write an angry letter to your representatives complaining about that waste of taxpayer money? barfo
Surely if we spend more money on government, everyone will be so happy they won't write angry missives to their congresspeople. Right?
Since no one has brought it up, Wyden is married to the owner of the Strand Bookstore in NY. http://www.strandbooks.com/ They have twin boys and the kids go to school in NY. Wife and kids primary residence is in NY. Not sure about the last couple of years but in years past he spent more time in NY then he did in Oregon. That said he does seem to work harder in DC than most other politicians and he has been the most vocal about the NSA bullshit.
You are a kind and generous man Sly, I never found a damn thing to like about Wyden, I see in his write up he has a blurb about Wayne Morse being his mentor. I heard him say this stuff once and my thoughts are Bull Crap, he is not Wayne Morse. I liked Wayne Morse, even the Republican turned Democrat Wayne Morse. The guy was alway against bull shit no matter which party he was in. This little copy from wikipedia give a bit of the style of Mr Morse. Wyden has none of it. "Wayne Lyman Morse (October 20, 1900 – July 22, 1974) was a politician and attorney from Oregon, United States, known for his proclivity for opposing his parties' leadership, and specifically for his opposition to the Vietnam War on constitutional grounds. Born in Madison, Wisconsin, and educated at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Minnesota Law School, Morse moved to Oregon in 1930 and began teaching at the University of Oregon School of Law. During World War II he was elected to the United States Senate as a Republican; he became an Independent after Dwight D. Eisenhower's election to the presidency in 1952. While an independent, he set a record for performing the second longest one-person filibuster in the history of the Senate. Morse joined the Democratic Party in 1955, and was reelected twice while a member of that party. Morse made a brief run for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination in 1960. A few years later, Morse was one of only two senators who opposed the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which authorized the president to take military action in Vietnam without a declaration of war. He continued to speak out against the war in the ensuing years, and lost his 1968 bid for reelection to Bob Packwood, who criticized his strong opposition to the war. Morse made two more bids for reelection to the Senate before his death in 1974." I never received a bull crap answer, like I get from these current incumbents, from Wayne Morse or Mark Hatfield. But then I knew Hatfield, he took my secretary with him to Washington when he was elected to the Senate. Damn Guy!!
