Dear Editor:
Florida Represetative Kathy Castor, commenting on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s plan to avoid a vote on the health care bill and instead "deem" it passed so they can get on with the leadership’s agenda stated that "At this point, process is not important.”
That single statement is the single most frightening thing about the whole healthcare debate. Why? Because that statement shows a monumental lack of understanding of what the American political system is or ought to be about and an equally great lack of respect for the will of the American voter.
“The process” as Congresswoman Castor disdains it, is the system whereby we elect people to represent us to do what we want done with our country. “The process” holds that, in the course of representing us, our elected officials should become informed of the issues before them and should consult with their constituents to determine their feelings. “The process” has it that they should then cast their vote after conscientious study, first having determined that the way they plan to vote is the best thing for their constituents and that it is in keeping with the will of said constituents.
When did it become acceptable that our elected officials vote for bills without so much as reading them? In all too many instances, that is exactly what many did last summer when the President was urging that his healthcare plan (then only 1001 pages long) be passed before the summer recess. Now, the House and Senate “leadership” wants healthcare to become law without even a vote. They want it to be “deemed” passed. When the people complained about this kind of high- handed trickery, the Honourable Congresswoman sniffed that “the process” was not important.
Yes, it is just “the process” . The process for which good men died in the Revolution, the same “process” good men defended in the Civil War; the very same process brave people risked life and limb to be able to participate in during the Civil Rights struggle of the sixties. Too many good people have fought and died for “the process” to chuck it now on the altar of naked political ambition.
Oh, and Congresswoman? Heed the process. For otherwise, the process might find you unemployed come November.
Ana Gomez-Mallada, Esq.
First Vice-President
Florida Federation of Republican Women
4011 NE 27th. Terrace
Lighthouse Point, FL 33064
(954) 725-6366
AGM656@bellsouth.net
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