I am a Democrat.

 I am a Democrat. I always have been a Democrat and most likely will always be a Democrat no matter what individual is running. That's right, you read it right. I will never vote for the person. It all started back when I was a teenager and asked my non-voting father what the difference was between the Democrats and Republicans. He answered quite simply, “Democrats are for the poor people and Republicans are for the rich.” Even though he didn't vote he considered himself a Democrat. Which is a shame but so true for lower income earners as he didn't think his vote counted. While this is possibly over simplistic it still rings true.

You see, I grew up in a trailer parked in a trailer park. My father was a simple butcher and my mother didn't work. Since we didn't have any government aid I do not consider my childhood as poor, but rather lower middle class. I am now right smack in the middle of middle class. I live comfortably but still if the economy sunk, so would I.

I have a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from UTEP. In that school of thought, the professors tried their very best to convince their students of Republican virtues. It all sounds great. People should take care of people. Corporations have an obligation to take care of their employees and should give to charitable organizations (not to mention the tax deduction) to make society stronger. Employees will spend thus building a stronger community and charities will take care of the needy. This way, government will be able to take care of the larger picture. Trouble with that picture is people are greedy and like to line their own pockets. In 2009 Dan Gerstein wrote in Forbes.com, “Big banks on the brink of collapse rewarding the folks who put the country on the brink of depression with $18 billion in bonuses. Citigroup (nyse: C - news - people ) going a tone-deaf step further in buying a $50 million luxury jet.” Not to forget the AIG gave $218 million bonus payments after receiving $170 billion bailout. In the recent Al Smith dinner that Romney and Obama attended, Romney pokes fun at Obama indicating his time in office is limited, “Of course we’re down to the final months of the president’s term…As President Obama surveys the Waldorf banquet room, with everyone in white tie and finery, you have to wonder what he’s thinking. So little time, so much to redistribute.” I'd rather have a Robin Hood as a President than one whose wife wears $900 t-shirts.

That's why voter id is pushed by Republicans because poor people tend to be apathetic like my father. There is very little voter fraud. Any voter id laws are promoted by Republicans to make it difficult for the indigent to vote. The Brennan Center for Justice at the New York University of Law draws the following conclusion (each point is further explained at http://www.brennancenter.org/content/resource/policy_brief_on_the_truth_about_voter_fraud/ )

* Fraud by individual voters is both irrational and extremely rare.
* Many vivid anecdotes of purported voter fraud have been proven false or do not demonstrate fraud.
* Voter fraud is often conflated with other forms of election misconduct.
* Raising the unsubstantiated specter of mass voter fraud suits a particular policy agenda.
* Claims of voter fraud should be carefully tested before they become the basis for action.

I recently dropped a former colleague and who I thought was a friend from Facebook because of her bashing of Obama. She was blaming him for the economic recession, her son-in-law's death in Afghanistan and other reasons. Though she is educated, her rantings were the opposite. She was basically voting for Romney, not for his campaign platform but to vote against Obama.

First off, Obama is not to blame for the recession. He also didn't start the bailouts. George W. Bush left office already having approved a federal bailout in of the American International Group for $85 billion September of 2008. This crisis is the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. “It has become one of the rare things that binds the two men, the controversial automotive bailout that was begun by former President George W. Bush and completed by his successor, President Barrack Obama,” stated Paul A. Einstein of the Detroit Bureau in his February 12, 2012 article “Bush Would “Do it Again” on Auto Bailouts”. The $17.4 billion automotive bailout was made in December 2008. My point is the worst financial crisis is not going to turn around in just four years, yet the country overall is recovering. The bailouts were a necessary government move in order to avoid a second Great Depression.

I feel sorrow for the loss of my former colleague's son-in-law. I feel sorrow for the loss of any son or daughter lost in war—on either side. I think it is a shame that in this modern age we still have to resort to barbaric war tactics to settle disputes. But also, I think that a person should own up to personal responsibility. If a person joins a killing machine (Army, Navy, Marine Corp, Air Force) for whatever their personal reasons, s/he should understand that her/his possible death is part of that assignment. But lets also remember, we were in Afghanistan before Obama took office.

I feel that a person should have the right to affordable health care and not have to worry how his/her medical bills will get paid at the worst possible time: while they feel sick. A woman should have a right over her own body. A person should be able to choose who they love and marry, regardless of sex. It is no threat to me, I've made my choice, other people should be able to make their choices. I feel that a person should be able to eat, no matter what his/her income bracket. I feel everyone should feel that their vote counts. That's why I am a Democrat.

The Republican party is not what it used to be. If the Democratic party changes and leaves its current platform, then I will have to realign myself to a party that supports equality for all: poor, sex, religion, rights, healthcare for all, marital rights for all.

So you like your siituation?

I know that I'm not going to change people's minds. I'm usually one who has my political opinion and keeps it to myself (close friends usually know what I'm thinking). I don't write political opinions--until now. I am moved to write my feelings on this subject. I'm going to start by asking a series of questions.

1. Have you ever had an emergency and laid there worrying whether or not the doctor who has been assigned to you is listed as a provider under your current insurance plan?
2. Has your employer changed insurance plans and it became questionable whether or not they would cover pre-existing conditions?
3. Have you ever been denied health-care insurance because of pre-existing conditions?
4. Has your health-care provider stopped covering you because your health situation is costing too much?

• I have had to scurry about to check to see if a doctor was in my plan and at a time when I should have been more worried about the situation of life.
• EPISD has changed insurance plan administrators and one of the first questions asked at an orientation meeting was, "Will you cover pre-existing conditions?"
• I had a friend whose son had a rare disease. The insurance they had discontinued coverage because it had become too costly. Then they could not get another insurance to cover him because it was then pre-existing condition. He died. Five years after their son's death, the parents were still paying for medical expenses incurred.

Charley and I are now retired, but we had to wait until he was old enough so we would be able to afford the medical insurance. I know other people who would like to retire but say they cannot do so because medical insurance would eat up whatever retirement pay they would have.

So you may be worried about universal health care, I've seen the vote go around Facebook. But what is being proposed is not universal health care or socialized medicine. If you like your insurance, you'll keep your insurance. Your insurance will have to accept pre-existing conditions, however. If you lose your job, your health will not suffer because you will still be able to get medical treatment at the same cost that your congressman pays, be he or she Republican or Democrat. If you change jobs, you will no longer have to worry whether your new insurance provider will accept pre-existing conditions.

We are already paying for people who are not insured. The way we are paying actually costs more than if we had a plan that would cover them. I taught high school in a poor section of the city. Students would come and announce that fainted the night before and their mother took them to the emergency room. They went to the emergency room because they did not have health insurance and emergency rooms cannot deny them. Did they pay the bill? No, because they were poor. Who paid the bill? We did, maybe not through taxes but through our insurance premiums. Someone had to pay.

One of the scare tactics out there is that socialized medicine is poor quality. I've been to Canada, the Canadians are afraid of getting sick in the United States and of the high medical costs. I've been to Europe where people are relaxed about their health. Doctors can diagnose and not worry about all the required insurance paperwork needed and hiring a staff that is dedicated, not to providing better health care service, but to managing insurance company claim forms. I had to get a prescription filled while in Germany, while the Germans would pay less than I did (if anything) the cost was cheaper than my co-pay at home. The pharmacist was diligent and took time to make sure my prescription was filled properly.

As for the death-panel stuff, here's was a Republican had to say about what the well-informed (ha-hem) Sarah Palin who stands by her 'death-panel' claim, her "posting came one day after Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska said that Palin and other critics were not helping the GOP by tossing out false claims. Portions of the Democratic health care bills "are bad enough that we don't need to be making things up," Murkowski said, invoking a phrase that Palin used in her resignation speech, when she asked the news media to "quit making things up." Murkowski said she was offended at the "death panel" terminology. "There is no reason to gin up fear in the American public by saying things that are not included in the bill," she said." (Associated Press writer Erica Werner contributed to this report.)

Think about it, who has the most to lose? It's not you or me, it is the insurance companies and the health care administrators. It is those people who are goading all the myths and lies of the health-care bill.

Alright, enough is enough from me. If you want to check out what I'm touting, here are some links:

• Jim Jaffe is a former congressional staffer and current contributor to HuffingtonPost.com and Centeredpolitics.com wrote this article found at AARP "Secret’s Out—We Already Ration Medical Care: For decades, our crafty government has been imposing rules that determine who gets what care.
• AARP reports on Health Care Reform: The Assault on Truth
• And, last but not least: The Whitehouse Reality Check