WILLIAMSON
FOR
U.S. CONGRESS
DEMOCRAT
CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT 6
“The Future Can Be Ours.”
480-607-9726
Dear Friend,
It’s a fair question to ask: Is David Schweikert really a Republican?
Take a look at this quote:
“No American will miss basic medical care by inability to pay.
I will offer a far-reaching set of proposals for improving America’s
health care and making it available more fairly to more people. I will
propose:
•A program to insure that no American family will be prevented from
obtaining basic medical care by inability to pay.”
That sounds quite a bit like something President Obama might have
said before the Affordable Care Act was finally passed in 2010,
doesn’t it?
Do you know who said that?
Richard Nixon, Republican president, in his State of the Union
message in January, 1971. (Source: Pres. Nixon’s 1971 State of the Union
message to Congress , Jan 22, 1971, as documented on the website “On the
Issues: Every Political Leader On Every Issue,” as of Sept. 22, 2014,
www.ontheissues.org)
Today, if a Republican were to say such a thing, they would probably
be asked to leave the party, especially if they lived in Fountain
Hills, where Rep. Schweikert resides.
Contrary to what Rep. Schweikert would probably tell you, the
Affordable Care Act has many capitalist characteristics in it. It is not a
program that is run by the federal government; instead, it is FACILITATED
by it. The state insurance exchanges where people buy
their health insurance under the Affordable Care Act, are hotbeds of
capitalistic activity. In these insurance exchanges, private
insurance companies offer their products in a financially competitive
environment. The consumer chooses the plan that he or she judges to be the
most economical for the level of services offered.
Throughout the United States, there are, obviously, 50 of these
modular market areas where citizens can purchase their insurance. It’s a
highly creative capitalist idea.
Another Republican from the past whom David Schweikert does not
resemble said this: “I’ve spoken of the Shining City all my political
life, but I don’t know if I ever quite communicated what I saw when I said
it. But in my mind it was a tall, proud city built on rocks stronger than
oceans, windswept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds
living in harmony and peace; a city with free ports that hummed with
commerce and creativity. And if there had to be city walls, the walls had
doors, and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to
get here. That’s how I saw it, and see it still.”
Of particular interest is the next to the last line: “And if there
had to be city walls, the walls had doors, AND THE DOORS WERE OPEN TO
ANYONE WITH THE WILL AND THE HEART TO GET HERE.” (I added the capital
letters.)
I think that the person who said this would be rooting for those
teens from Central America–particularly from San Pedro Sula in
Honduras, a city that has the highest murder rate in the world. (“Fleeing
Gangs, Children Head to U.S. Border,” Frances Robles, New York Times, July
9, 2014, www.nytimes.com). Those kids travelled across Mexico by
themselves to reach our southern border so that they could avoid being
killed back home in Honduras. (“Migrant kids’ 2,500-mile trek leads to
Arizona schools,” Daniel Gonzalez, Sept. 2, 2014, Arizona Republic,
www.azcentral.com). They had the WILL and the HEART to believe that our
country offered something that was worth risking their lives to get here
for.
Of course the Republican president who spoke those inspiring words
about people with the WILL and the HEART to get here was Ronald
Reagan in his “Shining City on a Hill” speech that he gave not long before
he left office. (from THE CITY ON A HILL by Michael Reagan
with Jim Denney, 1997,as quoted in The New York Times,
www.nytimes.com)
Although Richard Nixon made some tragic mistakes that he paid a dear
price for, he nonetheless had some great accomplishments during his
Republican presidency. One was the breakthrough in the normalization of
relations with China spearheaded by Henry Kissinger. Another great idea he
had during his terms in office was the thought that a health insurance
program facilitated by the federal government could help provide health
insurance to those in our country who could not afford medical coverage.
Yet a health insurance program facilitated by the federal government
is a concept and program that David Schweikert absolutely rejects. He
won’t even entertain the idea of such a thing. He’s voted to repeal the
Affordable Care Act at least 41 times, each one of those repeal votes in
the House of Representatives conducted at taxpayer expense.
And as far as the kids from Central America trying to escape
murderous living conditions are concerned, and despite the fact that some
of those children might qualify for refugee status under American law,
Rep. Schweikert doesn’t seem to bat an eyelash. This somewhat surprises me
because Rep. Schweikert is of the Catholic faith which, since it is
Bible-based, inevitably encompasses the concept of the Good
Samaritan. Evidently, even with kids who could qualify for refugee status,
Rep. Schweikert does not defer to the principles of his own Christian
faith, let alone applaud, as perhaps Ronald Reagan might have done, those
children for having the WILL and the HEART to seek freedom in our fair
land.
No, I believe that David Schweikert is a RINO–a Republican In Name
Only. He does not operate in the mainline tradition of those two
Republican presidents I mentioned above in regard to the particular
issues–health care and immigration–that I cited. I believe that
David Schweikert is a Tea Partier–or, as Janet Tillotson, the
campaign Button Lady might say–a Tea Bagger. (Leave it to a
Minnesotan, much like Garrison Keillor on the Prairie Home Companion, to
put it all in perspective!) The Tea Partiers’ philosophy of
government–that is, for example, the way they approach running the
federal government–seems to be: “Let’s see if we can wreck this.” That is
to say, wreck those magnificent mechanisms of checks and
balances that Thomas Jefferson and the Founding Fathers put together and
to which they pledged their “lives,” their “fortunes,” and their “sacred
honor.” (Jefferson, Thomas, DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, 1776.)
When elected your congressman on November 4th, I pledge that I will
continue to support the Affordable Care Act, “A program” to quote
Richard Nixon, “to insure that no American family will be prevented from
obtaining basic medical care by inability to pay.” Moreover, I pledge that
I will not seek to send children who qualify for refugee status back to a
country, say, Honduras, where, because of uncontrolled gangs, they may be
at risk of being murdered. I will not turn my back on the efforts of those
kids who have shown, as Ronald Reagan said in his “Shining City on the
Hill” speech, “the will and the heart to get here.”
If you would like to contribute to my campaign, please check out my
website at williamsonforuscongress.com. Click on “Make a
Donation,” and, by means of safe and secure PayPal, donate to your worthy
Democratic candidate for Congress in CD6. If you’d like to
distribute flyers or participate in phone-banking on my behalf,
please e-mail me or call me at the above number, and I will get you
scheduled to help.
Open-minded Republicans, enlightened Independents, and loyal
Democrats, the Future Can Be Ours if we recognize that Rep. David
Schweikert is a Tea-Bagger masquerading as a Republican. He is a
government shutdown joyrider squandering taxpayer dollars on a
multitude of votes to repeal the Affordable Care Act. This is a nation that
needs problem-solvers like myself in Congress and not a
representative like David Schweikert who is tyrannical about budget
considerations. He was, and still is, insouciant to the medical needs
of the 44,000,000 of our compatriots who, prior to the Affordable Care Act,
had no opportunity to get quality health insurance. Now that they can,
they are able to secure the unalienable rights, among others,
of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
Beginning on October 9th with the mail-in ballots, or on November 4th,
Election Day, please vote for me, a centrist Democrat, to be your next
congressman from Congressional District 6. You will not regret your
choice. You will be glad you made that decision.
Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
John
W. John Williamson
Scottsdale, Arizona