Yes, it does* mean you . . .

Back when the ACA (otherwise known as "the Affordable Care Act" or Obamacare, if you prefer) went into effect, I heard this woman I know who is a vehement Republican and right-wing nutjob on the phone with her Human Resources department, screaming at them because she wanted her son (in his early twenties and unemployed) to be covered by her group insurance now, since it was the law.

At the same time she calls the ACA socialism and wants it to be repealed. Of course, she knows that the rule that requires her employer to insure her son on her group health plan is a part of the ACA, but that doesn't seem to impact her thinking.

Same thing happens with other people I know, people who have serious health issues who were terrified of having to change jobs before because if they did so their new insurance wouldn't cover their pre-existing conditions. Now, they will, because of the ACA. But these people, too, want it repealed.

I've been bewildered about this behavior for a while, but it suddenly occurred to me the other day--these people think that, if the ACA were repealed, somehow it wouldn't affect them. The provisions that they are taking advantage of would still be in place for them, just not for other people.

It's the same sort of thinking that has people screaming and hollering about attempts to limit voting rights, and in some cases remove the right to vote altogether. Anti-abortion legislation--trust me, a lot of those right-to-lifers would have or pay for an abortion in a second if it were them or one of their own children who needed one. Those people somehow think that these Draconian, racist and misogynistic laws, if enacted, somehow won't effect them, personally. Only those other people.

Trust me, though--those other people are you. Just because you throw in with the monsters who are dehumanizing a large segment of the population, that doesn't mean you will be considered one of them, when the time comes. They'll throw your ass in jail as quickly as they will anybody else, or let you die because you can't afford healthcare as much as they would anybody else, or let you starve to death as quickly as anybody else. Because you're not one of them.

It's time you voted like it.