Republicans’ secrecy is not the American way

How many public hearings have been held on the American Health Care Act? How many experts have testified on the merits of policy proposals? How many hours of open debate and markup sessions has it been subjected to? The answer to these questions is the same: zero.

The GOP is attempting to push through a bill without any debate, scrutiny or input from the public, industry experts or Democrats. And they are doing it as fast as they can.

While the indecisiveness of Congress can be infuriating at times, no one should applaud a fast-acting government. Fast means less time to debate and consider potential outcomes, and fewer opportunities for constituents to voice their opinions and concerns. That is more characteristic of authoritarian regimes than liberal democracies.

Indeed, the GOP’s efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act is nothing short of thinly veiled authoritarianism, and a perversion of the democratic process the likes of which has seldom been seen in the U.S.

It establishes a dangerous governing precedent, and further entrenches the division in the country at large. Benjamin Moody Huntsville, Ala. A solution to our health care problem is to put it up for a nationwide popular vote.

Single-payer health care system: Yes or no. If Americans vote “yes,” the government gets to work on making it happen. With a country “statistically” behind them, there would be more bipartisan support. If “no,” Americans have spoken and Congress should continue to work to reduce health care costs and tighten up the Affordable Care Act already in place. The “us vs. them” approach is childish and only produces vitriol in our day-to-day governance.

It’s important to hear from Americans as to what we want and not what political parties prefer we get. It’s too important and affects too many people’s lives to leave this task up to a handful of rich and arrogant white men. Robert Bascelli Seaford, N.Y.