Alternatives

I have moved to the beating heart of the south. Georgia must be a conservative's dream. Last week Governor Deal signed a new law referred down here as the Guns Anywhere Law. If you have a carry permit you are allowed to carry a loaded firearm in lots of places other states don't allow you to do so. Places like taverns, bars, schools, government buildings, and of all places churches. If the building specifically denies guns then they are not permitted but absent notification of prohibition, guns are allowed. If you carry your gun into the airport and get stopped at the security station you are simply turned around and told to take your  gun to your vehicle. No criminal charges, you just forgot they weren't allowed on airplanes. The one that throws me the most might be the church. I'm having trouble figuring out why you might need a gun. I understand the Old Testament was an eye for an eye kind of book. I thought the New Testament was about turning the other cheek. Caring for the poor and downtrodden. Apparently now instead of turning the other cheek you draw a gun and line up your sights.

The political ads down here are interesting as well. Every commercial I see for a candidate includes some language about repealing the  Affordable Care Act. Of course, down here it is referred to as Obamacare. Makes it easier to be against it. I think my favorite ad is the one for the guy who is married to a former Miss America. She was the Miss America who was deaf. Her deafness was caused by a serious life threatening illness she had as a toddler. She and her candidate husband want Obamacare repealed. They are thankful that she had life saving health insurance as a child but would never want their children to be depend on Obamacare. I am confused. Unless I am reading things completely wrong Obamacare has extended health care benefits, either through medicaid expansion or health insurance exchanges to millions of previously uninsured Americans. How does that threaten the health care provided to his children? Preexisting conditions are now covered. There is no longer a lifetime cap on benefits. While it is not a perfect system it has expanded health care to folks who didn't have any. Almost none of the candidates say anything about repealing and replacing Obamacare, just repeal. Why are no alternatives presented? Do we just tell people who now have insurance that they are just screwed and it is gone? Congress has gone on for several years now and I have yet to see any proposal to replace Obamacare. What is wrong with every American having health care coverage of some sort? We force hospitals to provide care regardless of the person's ability to pay. Wouldn't the cost go down if everyone had insurance and the hospitals were not required to write of these uncollectible debts? I often told the people I supervised that I was willing to listen to problems as long as they were willing to offer something as a possible solution. You couldn't just come in my office and bitch about how things sucked. You had to have some suggestion that would make things suck less. Remember I worked in a prison and often progress was measured in those terms. Things didn't get better, they just sucked less. So come on folks, make Obamacare suck less.