October
27, 2016
Dear
President Obama, Senator Clinton, Mr. Trump, and all members of Congress,
I was blessed
to be born in the greatest country on Earth.
My family came across on the Mayflower to seek the American dream, long
before our nation was founded. My family
was part of the great western expansion and settled in the Utah territory. My story is like many other American’s
stories. My parents were taught by their parents’ who
where taught by parents before, them the importance of work. My siblings and I were taught the same, work
hard and you will get ahead in life We were taught to work hard and save our
money for not only a rainy day but for things like houses, cars, and most
importantly getting an education. This
is the American dream, buy your own home, car, and get an education. You can be anything you want to be if you
work hard, including being President of the United States of America.
However, you must help those in need. My grandparents would talk about Matthew
24:40 “In as much as ye have done it unto the least of these my brethren, ye
have done it unto me.” The scripture was
quoted and requoted at my parents and grandparents home, I love this scripture
and have been blessed to help when I could and to be on the other end of the
help. It is not easy to be the receiver,
but when you need the help, it is important to have those that will help. As a single mom, I sometimes need help. Friends, coworkers, and members of my
wonderful community, including bartering for violin lessons for my daughter,
have blessed me.
I would
like to thank you for wanting to
help the less fortunate with the Affordable Health Care Act. I saw friends that worked for nothing so they
could have insurance through their company just because of a pre-existing
condition. That is the most important part
of the law.
I am
concerned that a law was passed that people did not read. How can this happen? Did I miss something? I hear lawyers say, “Never sign anything
until you have read it.” Yet, the United States Congress can pass a law without
reading it. The reason that this happened was it had to be
passed to know what was in it. I teach third
grade and one of the things we talk about is getting information to answer
questions. To me this is like taking a
test and never reading the information before hand and getting a low
grade. However, if that happens it
effects only one person. This has
effected millions. Yet, it does not affect those people that passed and wrote
the law. Members of congress and the
president are exempt.
I live
in small community in Arizona. I have
been blessed to have a job that I love!
Being a teacher I feel is my calling, I make a difference in the lives
of those students around me. I love
seeing the light bulb moment, as they understand a concept. Opening their eyes to a whole world of
learning is an awesome experience. This truly is one of the biggest reasons teachers
love their jobs. Like many other teachers,
I have a second source of income. I run
the after school program at my school. I
am glad I was born in a family that taught us to work because I work 55 hours a
week outside the home. This does not
include the papers that have to be graded, lesson plans, or planning any fun
activities, but that is okay. It is all
part of the job.
My
insurance has continually gone up. I
moved to the Affordable Health Care Act because of this reason. Next year my insurance will cost more than my
rent and my car payment combined, more than all of my other bills combined, I
am not sure I understand how this can happen.
My idea
of the American dream is now just to be able to afford insurance. I will never be able to buy a home at this
rate. I hope my car runs smoothly for
forty years, and I will never be able to afford my master’s degree. I will hope to be able to just pay my insurance and my other necessities of life. If we get sick or need to use the insurance we
will be in trouble because I will not have money for copays or deductibles.
This is
a sad state our nation is in, no longer are we helping those in need. Instead, we are hurting the middle
class. Not the upper middle class or the
rich, but the lower middle class. Most
people are in my same situation, they were brought up to work hard and do your
best and now are being hurt by a law that people could not read. It breaks my heart that the generation that
that survived the Great Depression, fought to keep the world safe from tyrants
in World War II watch this.
I love
my country, anyone that knows me will agree with that. However, I am not pleased with the state of
my government.
