A open letter to Barack Obama
Dear Mr Obama
May I call you Barry? I hear that is what you went by in elementary school. I believe that if you had gone by Barry in the primary elections you may have won over more of the poor dumb voters that went for Hillary. Barry is a much more familiar American name. Unless you make a serious misstep I believe that you have a good chance of becoming our next president. You can actually represent the average working class family and are much closer to the original democratic ideals than the extremely wealthy candidates that supposedly were to represent the working class.
Although I am a Republican and will vote for McCain in the fall [ I feel like McCain is my homie being a fellow Viet Nam vet and a fellow old guy], I respect and admire you. Your life story is the American dream in action and should be the inspiration for every person who is born to a family that is not privileged. You studied hard in school overcoming many obstacles and obtaining a great education by your own hard work and perseverance.
Anyhow with that aside I want to offer my opinions about some of the problems we face today. First thing on everyone’s mind today is the obscene cost of energy. And the problem does not lie with the middle east oil barons, the problems are being caused by good old American greed. the Saudi’s are pumping more oil than ever and the cost of a barrel of oil at the wellhead is nothing like the reported costs of oil. The difference is being caused by greedy commodity speculators pushing up the costs of oil and gas through trading in futures contracts. It is my understanding that commodity futures trading is a regulated business, as such it should be a fairly simple thing to have the SEC simply halt trading on oil and gas futures. This would not require any new legislation, just a simple administrative action. I have a feeling that some of these speculators are actually the oil companies trading in futures to increase their already obscene profits. Even as a Senator, you are in a position to call for action on this problem and if you act swiftly the resulting gratitude of the American people could cement your presidential position.
And now on to health care, this is another hot button with the American people, and it also has some simple solutions that although they may be hard for certain special interest groups to swallow the people of this country could benefit by making a few unpopular choices.
Malpractice lawsuits need to be reigned in, actually we need some serious tort law reform in all segments of life. Anyone can sue anyone for anything. Many people look at this like a lawsuit lottery, spurred on by Television ads from unscrupulous law firms that encourage people to sue if they have ever taken a certain drug or had a certain procedure.
Lawsuits increase the cost of medical care for everyone. The pharmaceutical companies have to charge outrageous prices for their products not so much to fund new research, but to cover the lawsuits in case an unforeseen side effect should pop up spurring a new round of class action lawsuits.
Doctors have to pay as much as a half million dollars a year for malpractice insurance to cover silly lawsuits that often have little merit, but garner large payoffs to those who enter the lawsuit lottery. Who really pays for this malpractice insurance? Everyone who goes to the doctor has to pay more so some attorneys and individuals can enjoy a big payday at the expense of everyone else.
If you visit any border towns in Mexico you will find many American born and educated doctors and dentists practicing there because they can offer their services for a fraction of the price they would have to charge to cover the malpractice insurance in the United States. Mexico has sensible tort law, someone has to knowingly do something to harm someone before they can be sued.
So Barry, there are a few common sense things that you could do which would royally piss off some special interest groups [mostly lawyers and oil companies], but would overall benefit the millions of Americans being pushed to the brink of bankruptcy by outrageous energy and medical costs.
I seriously doubt that you will read my blog, however like in the movies “six degrees of separation” perhaps someone who knows someone who knows you will read these ramblings and relay the ideas back to you. As an young idealistic politician I would pray that you find the courage to ignore the special interest groups and lobbyists and do what is right for the American People.
Change takes courage and hope. I personally hope you have the courage to effect change.
Hopefully,
Richard Dine