Dear Editor:

It has always irked me that, among Republicans, the Affordable Care Act polls significantly better than ObamaCare. For the uninitiated, there is no difference between the two—one is simply a convenient shorthand for the official legislation. For almost the entirety of my adult life, Republicans have been fixated on repealing and replacing the ACA. The trouble is, Republicans don’t have even the faintest outline of a replacement.

Forgive me for being cynical, but this is because conservatives don’t actually care if working families can afford health insurance. So as our Republican-held government prepares to let healthcare subsidies expire, I see this policy as a case study for American conservatism writ-large.

Trump’s obsession with the ACA isn’t about our healthcare system—it is about snubbing his predecessor. If he actually cared, we would have seen a policy proposal within the last ten years.

Grievance politics have bolstered Republican politicians for years, but now they find themselves in the difficult position of governing with their hollow principles. ICE’s actions are unconscionably barbaric. Trans-athletes have been cast as villains to demonize the LGBTQ community. Tariffs have been levied to balance the trade deficit and put America First! (except for the Argentinian bailout, of course…)

And yet, despite all of this, nothing has gotten better for the American worker. Housing is unaffordable, inflation continues rising and income inequality is even worse than before the French Revolution.

Americans are starting to realize that the MAGA party has nothing of substance to offer. What will bewilder historians in the future is not the greed of the wealthy, it is the willingness of the working class to go along—not because it would make their lives better, but because it would make someone else’s life worse.

Mike Bartles

Boothbay Harbor