We're Off to see the Wizard

A Day at the Capitol

This is an observation of my day at the 'legislature'. 

On Monday, April 8, 2013, Barbara Butler, Melinda Nobel and I went to Little Rock to confront our legislators on the latest effort to screw up "Obamacare'. We met with Philip Adams, liaison for Health and Human Services, at the office of Governor Mike Beebe. We had a long discussion about why the health care bill currently under consideration, is a bad idea. It lets the insurance companies 'cherry pick' the healthiest people to insure while the state picked up the uninsurable, disabled, aged and sick. 

He explained that as the situation was today Blue Cross-Blue Shield had a 'monopoly' on health care in Arkansas. You either used their insurance or pretty much went without. As a compromise, it was determined that in the interests of 25,000 Arkansans that are currently NOT insured, it would be best to let other competitors into the market. This plan will be in effect for 3 years only (at which time I'm hoping Arkansans have wised up and voted these imbeciles out of office). Philip said it was better to settle for 'good' rather than hold out for 'perfect'. With that information, we went on the attack. 

I met with Bruce Cozart who has maintained the sleezy personality that he expressed when he first ran for Representative of my district. The NAACP asked both Cozart and Jerry Rephan to debate their positions to those interested in the 2 candidates running in District 24. In the course of questioning I asked him if he was for the ERA. His response was he knew nothing about it but would get back with me. When I could get my jaw off the floor, the 'debate' went pretty much as you would expect. Jerry well informed, Bruce hedging and 'how religious he was' and that his business experience as a contractor gave him the edge when it came to running government. FYI, government is NOT a business. Anybody need help, get out your dictionary.

Meanwhile back at the Capitol, I asked Bruce if he'd figured out what the ERA was. He responded with (as near as I can remember, a direct quote): " I realized I was in a set up situation so I decided it's best to play ignorant and just say I knew nothing about it".

I'm sure that the NAACP would love to know that. They are a non-partisan, non-profit group dedicated to the improvement of race relations and to give its members an opportunity to learn first hand from the candidates the issues and their positions without partisanship or bias. Everyone is welcome to express their opinion and make their case.

Well done, Mr. Cozart. You're a typical Republican who will never understand why minorities don't buy into your ideology.

Back to our reason for approaching Mr. Cozart. I asked him if he was for the health care bill and he said he was still undecided. I think that meant he was not going to discuss it with me. I explained my position and though it had changed after talking to Philip Adams, I hoped he would support it.

Later, after all of us had hit the halls of 'higher echelons of governance', we went to John Boozman's office. He doesn't have a sign saying the door you enter is 'John Boozman's office'. You have to ask unless you've been there before.

We presented our individual cases to his emissary ( I can't find the card he gave me with his name on it. Maybe Barbara or Melinda can update this blog if they like) for what we wanted Boozman to support and asked if his position on gun control was in keeping with the majority of Americans. I told his liaison that if Congress was not going to restrict or limit guns and magazines for them then tax the bullets. He laughed at me. Barbara pointed out to him (which took the smile off his face) that that was how Al Capone was brought down.

We explained that the ERA was an important issue that needed to be resolved, women will always stay under the gun until they reach parity with men. Until that happens, we will always be used as a political football. Each of us gave examples of why it was not government's role to restrict or regulate abortions. He said he was against abortions, period. I asked him how many babies he'd had? Since he hadn't had any I didn't give a damn what his opinion was. Barbara gave him a card to Foster care volunteers since he said he wasn't even involved in the care of those children he insisted women give birth to. It will be interesting to see how many in Boozman's office take up Barbara's offer to foster care these children he feels so attached to. I told him 24,000 children went to bed hungry every day in Arkansas, why wasn't he concerned about that.

All in all, a very interesting day with nothing to show for it except exhaustion and the knowledge that we had done our best to participate in our Republic and its politics; good, bad and very ugly. Damn its hard being a woman sometimes. I realized that after all the hard work, politicking and picketing I had done for most of my adult life, I was further from equal rights with my male counterpart than I was at 20. At 20, I had youth and good looks on my side. It's a bitch being a 2nd class citizen and old.