Letter 2 America for March 12, 2014

Dear America,

The news from Florida yesterday included election results that were being touted as an event that would be a prologue for the November elections in that the central issue in that contest to fill the remainder of a deceased Florida congressman's term was won by the conservative Republican.  In Florida's traditionally Republican 13 congressional district, David Jolly, the late, long-time-Republican incumbents chief of staff, beat the Democratic Secretary of State, Alex Sink.  And the reason for the attribution of electoral augury potential to these results was that the central issues seemed to be the Affordable Care Act, which Sink advocated fixing rather than repealing, and climate change, which Jolly is accused of denying.  The two candidates were almost paradigms of the party platforms that we can expect in November.  For my purposes, the fact that this seat had been Republican for 40 years--and in the hands of the Republican candidates late boss at that--vitiates any claim of this now past election being prologue for the mid-terms, but the experts seem to think that since the parties seem to have poured resources of all kinds into the race it must be meaningful.  What's more significant to me is that Jolly, who was the protégé of a Republican fixture from that district, won by only 1.9%, but what do I know...and what good are predictions anyway.  But this particular contest raised some hackles in my case because of a personal situation.

My brother, who is no liberal, has been on work-related disability for decades and no one else in his household works.  I believe that his annual income is below the poverty line, though he owns his house...no equity, just the title subject to the bank's mortgage lien.  I'm the only liberal in the family, so my credibility at the Thanksgiving table might be suspect if we waxed political on such occasions, but we don't.  This particular brother is probably the most conservative, and on the subject of "Obamacare," he toes the conservative political line, damning the whole thing.  However it is the law, and it makes sense to find out what it can do, don't you think.  But my brother, who has complained about the fact that the penalty will be assessed against him even though he is poor since he assumes he can't qualify, still hasn't even looked at Healthcare.gov to find out what is available to him.  His wife, who has had Lupus for thirty years, and his two sons all have medical problems that go untreated due to the lack of insurance, but he hasn't even inquired as to whether he can get some.  I spoke to him about it a couple of weeks ago since the enrollment peri0d is rapidly coming to a close, and I had suggested it to him before, but he still hadn't checked on his possibilities under the law as of last night.  I spoke to him on the phone the last time I raised the issue but his response was the usual conservative clap trap, so last night I did some preliminary investigation--which suggested that he will be eligible for reduced premiums, federal subsidies or Medicaid by the way--I texted him to tell him what I thought were his prospects, and that I would help him if he needed it.  (In his family the words lawyer and magician are synonyms.)  He had no chance to respond to half the suggestion that he try because the whole thing was posed to him in one fell swoop, and to my surprise, he texted me back to say thank you.  He said he would go on the website and see what was available to him, but we'll see.  On Monday, I'll call him again and ask if he has done it, and if he hasn't, I'll try to get him to stay on the phone with me while I act as navigator...I told him about navigators too.  What I'm guessing is that he won't act on the possibility of getting coverage that would be a boon for him and those he loves, and the reason is the same one that resonated in that Florida special election.

There is a hedge fund operator named Ackman who has taken a huge "short position," that is he has sold stock he doesn't own, in an effort to drive down the price of shares in the company Herbalife, and he has also been openly badmouthing the company in an effort to bring about his ends .  He must have gotten a bad batch of vitamins or maybe someone at the company refused to extend him credit...maybe he was just insulted that they didn't want him to take over the operation, I don't know...and so his short sale has taken on the aura of a personal vendetta, the merits of which are not important here.  But the way a short sale works is that you effectively vote against a company you don't own shares in by selling shares that you borrow from others in an effort to make a profit by buying the stock cheaper later on so as to fill the sales you made with stock bought at a lower price.  It would be fraud in any other business--in fact that is more or less what the film "The Producers" was about--but in finance it is de rigueur...very Republican...which brings me to the point.

My brother, and apparently tens of thousands of Florida voters in the 13th congressional district as well, have been sold short on the Affordable Care Act, and as a result, they won't even consider its merits.  If you believe that electoral politics is the highest calling for a politician, that's all well and good.  But I believe that public service is what politicians get paid for rather than getting reelected and helping their ilk get reelected too, and the effect all this is having on my brother, albeit as a function of his own doings as well, is nefarious.  So I implore you all personally, including my brother: think with your own heads, not someone else's, because if they're Republicans, you just can't be sure that their motives are pure.

Your friend,

Mike