Election 2012....this year it's PERSONAL

Dear republican friends:

Unlike the toolbags in D.C. it is possible for you and I to sit down and have a reasoned debate, friendly disagreements, and occasionally find some common ground, but this year's election has changed that. This year the election is more than just Dem vs Rep, Blue vs Red, this year it's personal.

Almost a year ago my best friend in the whole world, my wife, was diagnosed with breast cancer. She fought it with all of her might and thankfully has beaten back that disease, not without great sacrifice, much worry, and a shit-ton of bills, but she has kicked cancer's ass...but it has left her with something that could be just as dangerous, and no less a threat to her health - a "pre-existing condition".

That three word phrase can mean the difference between having a long, healthy life, and one filled with fear, pain and potential financial ruin.Until the President signed the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) into law my wife would have been shit out of luck if she changed jobs and wanted to get health insurance. Now, thanks to Obamacare, insurers are prohibited from discriminating against her because of that disease. Not only that, but they are forbidden from capping her insurance limits, so that if something else comes along, she won't have to worry about whether she has enough insurance to cover that too. Plus, our kid gets to stay on our insurance until they turn 26.

The republicans have vowed to repeal Obamacare. All of it. Think about that for a second. A major political party in the US wants to take health insurance coverage away from 26 million people, and allow insurance companies once again, to refuse to pay for coverage once you hit their artificial limits, and to make millions of young American adults simply go without healthcare. I can think of no other time in the history of this country when a major political party campaigned on, in actual fact touted, it's desire to deliberately hurt millions of its own citizens.

You might be considering voting republican because you think they'll lower your taxes (they won't). Or because the Democrats are going to take away your guns (they won't). Or because they're tougher in the war on terror (they aren't - ask Bin Laden if you don't believe me). Hell, you might be closed-minded enough even to do it because you don't like the skin colour or religion of one of the candidates, but if you come out of that voting booth having put an 'x' next to the republican party column, you may very well have signed your own death warrant. You see, cancer doesn't care what party you belong to, and it sure as hell doesn't care if you can afford to pay to try and beat it, but the insurance companies will be with you every step of the way, counting every single thing you need, and they will have no problem at all, in fact you will have voted to allow them, to just let you die instead.

A vote for the republican party this year says to every single American citizen that has a "pre-existing condition", including my wife, that you don't give a shit about them as long as you think your taxes are going to go down. And I think you are better than that.

Yes. This year, it's personal. Do the right thing.