First things first--Pat A., please check the comment I posted after your comment the other day. Congratulations! If I can be of any help, let me know. I'm very excited, too.
Well, the first two weeks of President Trump's Presidency have been a whirlwind. Supporters and opponents can at least agree on that, right?
Like it or not, I think his announced immigration policy has been misrepresented or, at least, misunderstood by many. First, it is not a "ban," but a delay until immigrants from certain countries can be "vetted." (Did you know that the term, "vetting," comes from horse racing? For a horse to be cleared to race, he had to be examined and approved by a veterinarian, a vet.) You might say that's playing semantics, but OK. Second, only seven countries have had immigrants targeted. And I believe these seven countries were singled out by both W. Bush and Obama for, well, the dangers the immigrants posed. Third, this is not the first time a President has so acted; in fact, under slightly different circumstances, Obama had a similar, although brief, order for those coming from Iraq. Over the long haul, I don't think I like this; short-term, I'm not sure I like it either. One thing I am sure of is that I don't want people coming here who intend to follow Sharia law rather than American law under the Constitution.
And, I'm not thrilled with some of Trump's appointments, particularly in the Cabinet. Of course, those appointees are a President's prerogative, not mine. And I didn't like many (any?) of Obama's appointments.
I hope Trump's bull in a china shop approach to foreign affairs, e.g., his talk with the Australian PM, isn't his style. There is something to be said for treating long-time allies differently, with kid gloves?, than our opponents. I hope he learns the finesse of diplomacy.
And I am still not at all convinced he will be good for workers, particularly the middle class, if there is one. Why doesn't he, instead of all this stuff he's done, take aim on the tax system. Namely, where is the effort toward tax cuts? Too early? Well, it hasn't been too early for other things. And did I read that among the agenda items is a national right-to-work (that is, "right-to-work-for-less") law. I wonder if many Trump voters are beginning to wonder if they did the right thing.
All that said, it is fun to watch the Democrats squirm. Some of them are jumping up and down and saying some pretty stupid things. And it's equally fun to think that the Establishment Republicans are squirming, too. I guess they, too, don't quite get it, don't understand. Trump's election was not just a repudiation of Obama, the Democrats, and liberal policies. It was also a repudiation of the Establishment politics.
Note the Establishment...... Remember, since its inception, the Republicans vowed if they were given control of both houses of Congress and the White House Obamacare was gone; they would repeal it. Gee, it doesn't seem like it now. The Establishment Republicans are backing off and backing off quickly. Now, it's just "tweaking" or "reforming" it. All but the most diehard realize Obamacare was a rotten law. (If you don't think so, there's nothing I can write to change your mind. I would just ask you why, if health care was so important, why you didn't purchase a policy, at far less than Obamacare costs for one, for someone who didn't have coverage?) I think Speaker Paul Ryan wants to repeal it; maybe Trump does, too, but who can trust anything he says? But the Establishment Republicans appear to be searching for some ways to deceive us once again, by saying they got rid of Obamacare while actually keeping it.
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It is clear why the Republicans are not quickly repealing Obamacare. It's because it was the Republican plan to begin with. They have no other plan at all. Despite voting to repeal it some 50 times over the last 6 years they never came up with a plan.
Personally, I think there are a lot of problems with Obamacare but it is not a terrible law. Everyone talks about how much more insurance costs now. Yes, it does cost more although increases in premiums have been lower over the last few years than they were in the 8 years of the Bush presidency.
I also think the policies that you used to be able to buy cheaper were completely worthless when it came down to it. With lifetime caps or the ability to just throw people off their policy if they may have had a pre-existing condition (and that was often done after the fact with very little evidence forcing people to have to fight against the insurance company), the policies that existed before Obamacare were junk. They were cheap but, like most cheap things, they didn't work when you needed them. Of course if someone was not one of the people who went bankrupt while holding one of those cheap policies then they seem to have no idea how bad the cheap policy they had was.
What we are paying for now is a guarantee that everyone can get insurance and that it will cover you even when you get sick. That guarantee did not exist before and it costs us all to be able to make that guarantee for everyone. If everyone has insurance, that will also save money for the taxpayers as we will no longer have to pay for emergency treatments for the poor. Now we are just paying the money in increased insurance costs. I know that hasn't shown up in lower taxes yet but I do believe the system will balance out at some point if it is allowed to do that.
If the Republicans do actually repeal Obamacare, get ready to pay the same as we are now for crappy policies again. Without a new plan the insurance companies will just take advantage of the current pricing and go back to the old coverage.
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