And you may ask yourself, how did I get here?

Dear Senator Nelson,

My letter today serves as a reminder that there are, in fact, people in our great state who urgently desire health care reform at the national level. I am sure you have received thousands of calls and letters in the last year on this issue, and I imagine a majority of them may have expressed concerns (to put it politely) about the bills proposed by both chambers of Congress and that laid out by the President. Please know that, despite being less well-organized than the tea partiers, we are no less passionate about this issue - and almost certainly more well-intentioned. And, most importantly, we are not as outnumbered as the ratio of letters and calls might suggest. Therefore, I plead that you not only continue to vote in support of health care reforms, but also aid in whatever ways you can to ensure that your reluctant collegues on both sides of the aisle do the same.

Florida is a state long caught between the divisive rhetoric of the two major parties, and myself and others respect and admire you for persevering in the face of persistent pressure to moderate your positions. With health care especially, any concessions to the Senate Republicans are tenfold concessions to the insurance and pharmaceutical industries. Too long has the true backbone of this country, the working middle class, been held hostage by false dichotomies spewed forth by industry lobbyists and the Congressional representatives who profit from preserving the entrenched system.

You must ensure that Senators from other closely contested states realize that the political capital that will result from the passage of a strong reform bill will compound in years to come - just as failure to reform the system now will compound against those who vote against it when the iniquities of the current system grow unchecked, as they inevitably will. This opportunity must not be permitted to slip away.

Sincerely,
Caroline Leonard