Curling toward the House

We don't know about anyone else, but we here at the Community Clinic Consortium are great fans of curling.  

Often referred to (in Canada, anyway) as "chess on ice," curling is the time-honored and strategy-intensive duel between two teams of competitors battling to see who can get their polished granite stones across the skating rink and closest to the target, which is called the house.  

We particularly like the part of the game when one team arcs its polished granite stone into the other team's polished granite stone, knocking it out of the way and erasing the other team's gains. 

What we don't like is how well our beloved game of curling stands as a metaphor for the US Congress.  

Next week, leadership in the House of Reps will schedule debate over repealing last year's hard-won healthcare reform law, whose passage was a major coup for advocates of a better, more equitable, and more affordable American health system.  

In other words, Republican leadership will be sliding the political equivalent of a large polished granite stone down the ice in an attempt to knock the existing polished stone of healthcare reform away from the house.  (Get it? House?)

Well, we cry foul.  The last thing that low-income and working-class Californians need is the federal government to pull the rug out from under their feet and strip away vital funding for community clinics and basic protections for insurance customers.  

We hope you'll agree now's not the time to re-break the healthcare system.  And we encourage you not only to agree but to make your views known to your Congressmembers.  So we've set up a easy-to-use online tool that allows you to send your representatives a pithy plea for reason.  Check it out at this link, which will get you to our website's Advocacy Action page.  

Happy advocating, Team Community Clinic!