Mitch McConnell, Change and Hurting America

By Glenn Mollette

Average America doesn't feel better off today. More of us are feeling the pain of the new government healthcare laws. My personal medical insurance premium will increase in January. My deductible goes from $3,000 to $5,000 and my co-pay also goes up. Beginning in January 2015, my medical insurance will be the worst I've had in my life. I suspect that during this past election millions of Americans started waking up about Obamacare.

The new Senate and House must edit the healthcare laws. Allow the very poor of America to be on Medicaid and those with preexisting conditions to buy into Medicare. Allow working Americans to buy and bargain for their own health insurance and allow us to do it across state lines. Thousands of illegals continue to come to America. Many of them of them are hard-working people. They simply want to be in America and have a better life. I don't blame them. However, the majority of Americans want them to fill out their paperwork. We want these people to be documented and follow the legal path to living in America. Most Americans would agree on making the path clear and obtainable. We simply do not want to just reward these people with citizenship if they broke the law to get here. Americans are tired of our jobs going overseas.

Minimum wage, even if it's $10 or $12 an hour, is not enough. We need $20 and $25 an hour jobs that pay benefits. We need to reward companies for keeping jobs in America. We don't want to reward them for moving jobs to another country. However, companies must also decide how they are going to handle medical insurance. If we continue to demand more taxes and more medical insurance burdens from businesses they will move somewhere else.

Or, they will continue to downgrade full-time employees to part-time employees. Average America is not ready to eliminate fossil fuels. We like solar, wind and natural gas. We also know that we are loaded with coal and oil. We need to use our fossil fuels while developing technology that uses cleaner and more efficient sources of energy. More Americans would like for us to be disconnected from Middle Eastern oil. We are tired of being tied to Saudi Arabia or Iraq for oil. Actually we are sick and tired of the Middle East in general. Maybe, I shouldn't speak for any other Americans. However, it seems I am safe to speak for a large number. Mitch McConnell and a host of other Republicans were elected because that is what America could do. We could vote and bring about change.

There is broad frustration and even anger toward Washington and our current policies. The Republicans need to work together and get something right for the next few months.Some of us are doubtful about a Democratic President and a Republican Congress accomplishing anything.However, this is America and we can dream.