National Write Your Congressman

I have been a member of "National Write Your Congressman" for some time now.

For those of you who have never heard of "National Write Your Congressman" you should go visit www.nwyc.com.

For me, this has been one of the best tools I've run across to help look over the bills that congress is voting on and read opinions from both sides of the issue.

National Write Your Congressman has helped me stay on top of the news stories that I am often called on to render commentary on.

Now, you might be wondering why the big plug for NWYC -- and this is the reason.

Things with healthcare reform have transformed me from merely a pithy analyst who talks about branding and Godfather references into the kind of guy who actually writes his representatives.

Exactly -- I am now that kind of crazy person. Except I no longer think it's crazy. (Of course most crazy people don't think they are crazy -- we can examine that issue later).

When I look at the disconnect between the public polling numbers and the actions of our government (over the course of the last decade or more) I can't help think that people simply have to get more involved.

Since my wife would shoot me if I actually ran for office, writing congress is the next best thing.

Do I think my Congresspersons - Representative Kendrick Meek, Senator George LeMieux or Senator Bill Nelson - every actually read this stuff?

Probably not. But I'm fairly sure some staffer does (at least the first line or two). I also think that if enough people wrote their congressperson on a regular basis, these folks might just start reading their own mail.

Anyway -- Here's the letter I sent out using National Write Your Congressman.

December 22, 2009

[recipient address was inserted here]


Dear [recipient name was inserted here],

Below are my thoughts regarding the Senate health care bill.

No, I am not in favor of the Senate health care measure.

You guys on Capital Hill have given the 24/7 news folks (like me) the best Christmas
present they could have asked for - fodder for the machine.

Sadly, however, just about everything that most Americans know about the
bill is what comes from those same news folk.

Honestly. What is in this bill and why are you all on this fast moving
train to pass it?

We've waited 50-years for healthcare reform. We can wait another couple of
months (or years) in order to make sure it's right. (For the record, I'm
not sure you can have actual healthcare reform without having some sort of
tort reform as well - but let's save that for another letter).

The polls are pretty clear. The faster you move, the more divided you are,
the less confidence we have that you all are serving our best interest.
And that, in a nutshell, is the BIG problem.

The urgent problem is not healthcare!

The urgent problem is that the American people (your constituents in
particular) do not trust you anymore.

We think that the political process is broken.

We look at the process by which this bill is being moved forward and we
say amongst ourselves, "you people have no clue."

That stated I'm not writing to just to criticize.

I would like nothing better than to see this trend reversed.

The only way that is going to happen, however, is if you take the lead.

If you truly want to help voters gain back their trust in you, now is the
time and healthcare reform is the issue.

Consider these 6 easy steps:

1. Vote NO on this bill.

2. Remind the President and your peers of the President's own Transparency
and Open Government directive - you can see that directive at this link
---
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/TransparencyandOpenGovernment/

3. Suggest that the senate publish to the Internet a "finished" version of
their healthcare reform bill (Keeping with the spirit of this directive,
the published version of the bill should be one that is translated from
"Lawyerese" to a language that at least 90% of your constituents can
actually read and understand).

4. Put out a non-politicized TV PSA reminding people to read the bill and
post comments.

5. Wait 90 Days to let your constituents react to it (and pay attention to
how they react).

6. Vote your conscience.

I recognize that this is probably a ridiculous request given the political
climate in Washington right now. I understand the pressure you must all be
under (Democrats to pass this thing - Republicans to defeat it).

The bottom line, though, is that healthcare reform can wait. Voters,
however, are quickly losing patience with how you all are conducting
yourselves.

Please vote NO on this bill and demonstrate to the electorate you truly
understand that this government was built to be "by the people, for the
people".

A proud member of National Write Your Congressman.

Sincerely,


Thom Mozloom
President
The M Network

Healthcare Reform??

Two things about the continuing healthcare reform circus.

First -- now that the Democrats have conceded a public option AND have given up on the expanded Medicade proposal -- their is a HUGE branding question on the table:

What is this thing?

The idea that every person in America would have access to quality, affordable healthcare was an easy message to digest -- easily brand-able - and a lot of people bought into the notion.

Now that this thing has morphed into what many people are viewing as nothing more than an ideological debate (as opposed to real reform) it's done two things --
1. Bled away a lot of support both from the right AND the left
2. Demonstrated clearly to voters how screwed up Washington is.

Prior to this - public polling indicated a waning approval for this legislation anyway -- that was mostly spurred by the "big government is taking over" crowd and an overall lack of trust in the federal governments ability to actually create and manage a system of any worth. Now that the most well "branded" aspects of the plan have been blown up, we're starting to see erosion in support from voters on the left as well.

I don't see that public support coming back anytime soon because there simply isn't enough time to explain to the public why this bill is a good thing if it's not going to do what it was originally intended to do -- provide healthcare to every American.

Now don't get me wrong -- I don't actually believe that the bill needs public support to pass -- and that brings us to the second part of this line of thinking:

If a bill passes that does not provide healthcare to all Americans --- and is not even understood by most Americans --- then:

- Voters on the right will feel that they were railroaded by a liberal congress into a bad bill that increases the size of government -- it's a government takeover of 1/3 of the economy.

- Voters on the left will feel that they were railroaded by a weak congress that was bullied around by the far right minority. This bill isn't real reform but rather a watered down version of change that amounts to little more than politics as usual -- protecting the massive health insurance lobby and the donation dollars that go along with it.

In other words -- this bill is now a political (at least a political marketing) albatross.

No good can come from it.