Michael Swayze's Community Resources

Category: Politics

  • Affordable Care Act

    Today, the United States Senate takes up action to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Make your voices heard by telephoning your Senator as I did this morning. So many people have been calling that you might have to leave a voicemail message.

    The message I left was fairly straightforward and was limited to this one topic. My talking points were:

    • Stop the repeal, Senator.
    • The Affordable Care Act is not a catastrophe as the President-elect claims. It has given 20 million people dignity and an opportunity to live better lives.
    • I worked at a county welfare agency and government for forty-three years (recently retired). I’ve seen how some people have had to choose between buying food or going to the doctor or heating their home. Don’t make it harder for them.
    • I’ve spoken with countless people in my community who work more than one job just to make ends meet. Don’t make it harder for them.
    • You’ve been fixing the Social Security Act of 1935 for eight decades. You never once had to repeal that program. Fix ACA, don’t repeal it.

    Call your Senator today. You can use the Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121 to be connected.

  • Resisting Donald Trump

    House Republicans were beaten back today in their efforts to gut the Office of Congressional Ethics, an arm of Congress whose mission is to investigate corruption and unethical behavior. A storm of criticism reached Washington with hundreds of calls made to House members either directly or via the United States Capitol Switchboard, 202-224-3121.

    New Jersey’s two Senators and twelve Representatives are:

    You may want to capture these phone numbers for future action, whether it is to voice your concerns, send a message, or as a sign of protest. You deserve to be heard on matters that are important to you, whether it deals with Cabinet picks, environmental concerns, the dismantling of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), civil rights/civil liberties, etc.

    You can also access this list online by visiting the House Of Representatives
    Directory of Representatives.

  • Thank You Juan Cabanela

    Every once in a while we need to stop what we are doing and say “thank you” to a fellow human being. This country is filled with men and women who day in and day out are doing remarkable things. The other day – on Labor Day – in fact, it became known to me that a particular website is no more.

    For a number of years a website known as Contacting The Congress was operated by a public citizen, Juan Cabanela. While checking for broken links on this site it was discovered that his website had been shut down after twenty-one years of operation. Imagine, a website operating for twenty-one years, providing a very up-to-date citizen’s congressional directory, due to the efforts of one individual. Amazing.

    Juan Cabanela was not a politician or a paid political operative seeking to capitalize on his Contacting the Congress website. Instead, he is a faculty member in the Physics and Astronomy Department at Minnesota State University.

    Although his site was shutdown last week, he has left us a dozen links to the U.S. Congress, so we won’t feel so lost or abandoned. Thank you, Dr. Juan Cabanela, for your activism and your efforts these past two decades.