I went to my first townhall meeting today, to meet my United States Senator in Hagerstown, Maryland - Ben Cardin. I carried this sign:
If it ain't broke
don't fix it.
No Obamacare
I could not get in to see the Senator, even though we sent an email reservation in advance.
It was a very crowded "Town Hall" meeting.
I think the Senator and me were both surprised, so many people came to express their views.
Most of them had the same view as me: Stop Obamacare.
I appreciate my Senator coming to listen to our views.
I stood outside the big meeting room in the rain to hold my sign and hope that I am heard.
I saw on his website that the Senator said he wanted me to have this chance to express myself. I appreciate that.
But I am disappointed that I didn't get the chance to ask him to listen to me.
I am disappointed, because I never got to ask a question or talk to him or get the feeling he was there to listen to me.
A lot of other people there said the same thing too.
One man said he didn't think it was right that he waited several hours to express his view but when Senator Cardin arrived he just did most of the talking, not very much listening.
Also I don't think it is very fair to ask me at my age to stand in a line for many hours, just to be told that the Senator is too busy to talk to me.
I didn't get there a few hours early because I could not stand in a line that long.
And I certainly cannot stand in the rain for a long time. Or else I won't be talking about healthcare in the future - I would need it right now today.
So, thanks to my friends Richard Delgaudio and his wife Emy ("Emy the Immigrant" has her own blog too) who drove me to this "Town Hall" meeting to meet Senator Cardin, I have a videotape of what I wanted to say to Senator Ben Cardin about the changes that President Obama wants to make to my healthcare.
I hope that the Senator will listen. Even though he did not listen to me today.
I am sorry that some people at today's Town Hall were shouting.
I could see that they are so very frustrated because they are not being heard.
And like me they are very worried about how these changes are going to cause us more pain, more suffering and cost us more than we can afford to pay.
But I am too old to do that shouting. And I wouldn't do it even if I could.
Yes, I do sympathize with those who shouted at the Town hall meeting.
People do get upset when they think you are going to hurt them or even kill them. People get upset when you are ignoring them. I understand.
I want to be heard too. I'm frustrated too. I'm worried too.
But I don't think shouting will help, even when we are all being ignored in this rush to pass ObamaCare.
I would rather we have SeniorsCare. Not the ObamaCare Scare.
If you want SeniorsCare not ObamaCare then please help me. Vote in my poll. Sign my online petition.
Help me (donate here).
I don't have so many years left to live as the younger people do.
I can't stand for many hours in long lines to express my views.
Today, I have to admit, standing in the rain trying to make this videotape after Senator Cardin had left, was about the limit of what I can do to send you this message Senator Cardin.
I just want to be heard on this topic.
Healthcare really is for me and for those my age, a life and death issue.
I don't appreciate the President's men calling me and those of us who went today to the Town Hall meeting, "nazis" or "unAmerican" or lump us all together in some negative bad way because we want to be heard before they rush these changes through so fast.
In fact I have to wonder how much President Obama really understands about what is Fascism and Nazism if he lets his young followers call what I am doing "Nazi.
I lived through that world nightmare you know. And I don't think any of them were even born yet.
Maybe they skipped that part of history in school? Or mixed it all up?
Nazism is where you shut your mouth and never, ever say something bad about the government or else something bad happens to you.
Nazis are the ones who shut you up and run rush through what they want and you have no choices.
Nazis were the ones who murdered 7 million because they were Jewish.
If this ObamaCare Scare becomes law I think it will be a lot more than 7 million of us seniors who could die, and many more than 7 million of us will live in pain without the medical care we need.
We aren't the ones who are Nazis if we stand up to say we don't like what the government wants to do to us.
And calling us unAmerican is especially an outrage - we are the ones who built America.
We have every right to ask that the government not kill us.
Calling us these terrible things because we don't agree is not very nice.
It is very rude Senator Cardin. It is very rude, President Obama. You should make them stop.
You should reprimand them.
You should make them wash out their mouth with soap when they talk like that about us.
It is very rude the way you speak of me and those who just want to express our opinions against your ObamaCare Scare.
You should be nice to your mother and you should be EXTRA nice to your Grandmother.
Shame on you for saying such things about me and those my age.
President Obama I hope you will tell your men and women saying these things to stop that and to behave.
Here is the script of the video that I made today to express my views to Senator Cardin after he left the Town Hall meeting where he did most of the talking and did not have time to listen to me at all.
I hope this message reaches both my U.S. Senators in Maryland.
I want to help defeat this ObamaCare Scare. Here's why I feel that way.
If it ain't broke
don't fix it.
No Obamacare
Senator Cardin, I came to your Town Hall in Hagerstown to ask you, please don't change my medical care.
Don't do it.
Please don't vote for President Obama's changes.
Since you're closer to my age than to President Obama's, then surely you heard of this old saying we seniors have?
If it ain't broke don't fix it.
America's medical care system is the best in the world.
One of so many reasons we can all say, I'm proud to be an American.
People come here from around the world for operations.
Now you want to change all that.
Now you want to put the government's nose where it doesn't belong, in my medical care.
You know, if I want another opinion it won't be some darn government bureaucrat I would ask.
I would ask my son Dennis, I would ask my husband Ben, about my medical choices, about what they think of what the doctor told me.
Not you Senator, not President Obama.
And I sure wouldn't stand in some line at the government office to ask some bureaucrat.
The socialized medicine plan of President Obama takes away my choices, and puts a bureaucrat in charge instead.
I don't like it.
Now President Obama says the medical system is all broken down and he wants to fix it.
It ain't broke. Don't fix it.
What's broke is the government.
Who needs the money, is the government.
Not me. Not people my age.
We have a good system already.
If you want to give us some more money to pay our bills, fine. You can reach me in Frederick. You can mail me the check. And I love direct deposit.
But don't mess with the best medical system in the world.
Don't take away my choices in medical care.
I like being the boss of my own life.
I like having choices when I talk to my doctor, even the right to fire him and hire another one.
I am scared Senator Ben Cardin, and I came here to your town hall to ask you, please don't do this.
If you make the changes I have read about then you will be hurting me and everyone my age.
If you try to help poor people by destroying a fine medical care system we already have it isn't fair, it isn't right.
And you should be ashamed, Senator Cardin, if you stand with President Obama instead of us your Maryland seniors.
You can't help the poor by hurting seniors.
If you take away our choices some of us are going to be hurt.
Some of us will have more pain in our lives.
Some of us you will kill because of less of the good care we have.
We can't afford the cost increases.
We can't handle the pain that can be avoided.
We can't wait for the operations and the care.
And it especially just isn't fair Senator Cardin, if you make us seniors stand in line behind people that came here illegally, who never wanted to pay for any kind of insurance.
I'm talking about the 12 million illegal aliens that Senator Obama is more worried about than us Seniors.
We're not the rich that President Obama always talks about wanting to hurt.
We're not wealthy.
We are the backbone of America.
We are the ones who raised the children who run America today.
We are the ones who worked our whole lives.
Please Senator Cardin, listen to us seniors.
Not to the loud yells of those making demands on you to take away our money, make us pay their bills, cut back our medical choices, hurt us, even kill us.
Please don't kill me.
No Obamacare.
Visit my website, http://SeniorsCare.blogspot.com.
If you hear this message, I hope you will go to my blog and join my new mailing list.
If you aren't a senior, I want to hear from you too. You may know, love and care for a Senior.
I pray to God, you will someday be one of us.
To younger people I want you to know, we seniors aren't asking you for a handout.
We don't want your money.
And we sure don't want to send the bill for our spending of today, on to my grandchild who I love so much.
That's not fair, and that's not right.
Shame on you President Obama.
Now the only thing I ask of other people, is that you care.
That's why I call my new blog, SeniorsCare.
That's all I ask - don't hurt us. Don't kill us.
Care for us as we Seniors have cared for you, during your entire life.
We were there for your WHOLE LIFE don't ever forget.
I pray to God, for you to live long, live healthy, and have choices in your life.
Don't take away our medical choices, don't send us a bill we can't afford to pay.
Please don't kill us. Go to http://SeniorsCare.blogspot.com to help me.
(end of my video)
Well that's the text of my youtube video. Whether you agree or not you can vote in my poll.
If you do agree with me and want to stop this proposal then please sign my online STOP ObamaCare Scare Petition.
I will use your petition to write to Senator Cardin and ask him this time will you listen to me?
This time, may I please be heard? This time, may I have your promise, don't hurt us, don't kill us, don't take away our choices, don't vote for this ObamaCare.
I know that the President's men say this is all an "organized" effort to stop them. I hope so.
I hope we can get better organized. I'm doing my best.
Although this is my first blog, I am already an officer and the administrator of the non-profit conservative cause group, United States Public Policy Council.
They operate the project, Secure America Alliance, and had some help to figure out how to make the petition part of this blog and make the "opt in" list. Thanks to Secure America Alliance I can speak out better.
I know that some of these Senators think that if you are organized you are out. They don't listen to you no more.
Oh? Well, guess what?
Even though I'm not going to yell or shout, my voice is louder because I am planning to work with other people so I can be heard, so
I can be safe, so I can stop them from hurting me and seniors with this ObamaCare Scare.
I hope you will help me. I'm too old to stand in lines for hours in the rain to be heard, and I'm not gonna yell or shout.
So please, vote in my online poll on this blog.
Please sign my online petition - which is sponsored by Secure America Alliance - and please let me know if I can add your name to my special friend list.
And if you are able to make a donation to help me your money will be used to help me promote this my new SeniorsCare blog.
It cost me nothing to make this blog. No expense but the gas, to spend a few hours today trying to talk to my U.S. Senator. No expense, to make the video.
But to be heard on the internet, to reach a lot more people, I could sure use a budget.
So if you can help me I would sure appreciate it.
I could use your donation to promote this blog and my video and reach more people to help me. Maybe then I can get through to Senator Ben Cardin here in Maryland.
Maybe then, with your help, BOTH of my two U.S. Senators will hear me out, listen to seniors.
Maybe with your help, I can influence other Senators too, and make them understand why they cannot vote for this ObamaCare Scare, why they cannot do this to us seniors. Don't hurt grandma.
Thank you for hearing me out.
sincerely,
Elaine.SeniorsCare@gmail.com