As I was heading into work this morning, I heard via NPR that a lonesome Republican in Congress voted for the major health care reform. I was a bit shocked to hear that a Republican was going against his party to vote on a much needed health care reform bill ignoring that fact that he has no colleagues in congress.
As soon as I was dropped off at work, I rushed into the office and turned on my t.v. Just as I hoped, this had to be big enough news to hit CNN, MSNBC, or maybe even FOX (shudders). Sure enough, the story was big in the political arena on CNN. The lonesome Republican turned out to be no other than Louisiana Representative Anh Joseph Cao.
Once I received the news, I was not surprised. Last summer, when Congressman Cao was running for the vacant seat that former Representative William Jefferson was occupying, I did a little snooping around on the internet on this devout Catholic lawyer.
I became intrigued by Congressman Cao because he’s an immigrant from Vietnam. It’s extremely rare for someone who’s a descendant from the South Asian region to become involve in politics, especially reaching as high as Congress. K, I’m done explaining my reasons for researching him.
What’s more shocking was how he won the election in a democratic state populated heavily with African American residents. This just goes to show that voters will give their vote to who they know will represent those best – this is exactly what happened. One of maybe some of you reading this, might not even understand what that means.
So here was a devout Catholic Republican who immigrated from Vietnam at the age of 8 years old who won the Congress seat by beating out eight others who was running for the same vacant seat, including William Jefferson, who was, at the time, being investigated on bribery charges. This just goes to show that there will be citizens who will look past political parties and vote for someone who will stand to diligently represent them.
Fast forward today, despite his party affiliation, he decided to vote for the health care bill because he knew that many, many of his constituents are uninsured. Now that’s standing up for the people who trusted him by voting him into office. This is a noble, selfless act, even if it may isolate him from making friends among fellow republicans in congress. As of late, many politicians are forgetting what their job entails - i.e. standing up for your district.
"Cao called his vote a matter of conscience. "Twenty percent of the people in my district are uninsured and we have tremendous health care issues in the district,'' Cao said after the vote, as reported by the Times-Picayune."
Click here for the whole article on
stumbleupon if you’re interested in reading the full article. But then again, many of you are just glazing over my words and don't give a damn about what I have say unless it's about drama in my life or what I did over the weekend or what
Mermaid and I are planning for this week, because this isn't in your "field of interest." Here's an advice, try becoming more friendly and understanding to issues rather than negatively bringing it down. Open your mind once in awhile.
Try it, it won't kill you to try.
