Former Prosecutor and Founder of LegalSpeaks.com Debbie Hines wrote the blog post I would have written today after seeing the new polls. I immediately tweeted her and asked her permission to reprint on my blog in its entirety. She graciously allowed it.

Debbie succinctly addresses all the ills that would be effected on the middle class if Mitt Romney is elected. Please read it in detail. Most importantly please, please share it and ensure everyone in your sphere of influence read it.

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Mitt Romney Will Kill Big Bird and the Middle Class Too

Debbie Hines
Former Prosecutor and Founder
LegalSpeaks.com

Originally Posted at HuffingtonPost.com 10/08/2012 11:37 am

Middle class Americans will be an extinct or dying population along with Big Bird under a Mitt Romney presidency. From children, college students, the disabled to senior citizens, middle class America will be at risk under Romney’s plan. The presidential debate should be a wake- up call for the 99 percent of us.

Under a Romney-Ryan administration, Medicare will be turned into a voucher system. Those persons, who are not presently on Medicare and are under 60, will be issued vouchers for Medicare. As people age, their health often deteriorates. Just at the time when seniors may begin to experience chronic health issues, Mitt Romney wants to take away our present system of Medicare and replace it with, in essence, — coupons. Coupons are good for grocery shopping; I just don’t want them for health care.

While Romney wants to turn Medicare into a voucher system to pay for health care, he thinks students should borrow money from their family to pay for college. Both my parents were hard-working people. They worked almost every day. My dad rarely took off from work. And yet I still needed college grants, loans and a job to pay for college. Every family cannot just pull money out of a hat or a Swiss bank account to fully fund and send their children to college. Under a Romney administration, a college education would become an unaffordable luxury for the middle class. We cannot let this happen for middle class Americans.

As for health care, Romney proudly states his first act upon taking office, will be to repeal the Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare"). He doesn’t want to see adult children stay on their parents’ health insurance until age 26, give coverage to 50 million uninsured Americans, or forbid insurance companies from denying coverage due to pre-existing health conditions. Although Obamacare is designed after the same health care act passed under Mitt Romney as Massachusetts governor, it’s apparently not good enough for all Americans — just those from Massachusetts.

The word "entitlement" has become a dirty word in Romney’s Republican circles. There’s nothing dirty or wrong about needing help when your life circumstances throw lemons at you. If you have no bootstraps, you won’t be able to raise yourself up with them without help. Democratic California Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey is a prime example. She was once on welfare at the time she was a single mother and needed help. This year, she is retiring from Congress after serving 20 years.

And for the parents of children with developmental disabilities such as autism, Down syndrome, cerebral palsy and a long list of other disabilities who are receiving Medicaid, Medicaid helps to provide a quality way of life for their children. Those adults who have had to see their parents, grandparents and other loved ones be sent to nursing homes due to Alzheimer’s or dementia know the aid that Medicaid provides is immeasurable and invaluable. Needing help from the government to improve one’s life when circumstances warrant it should not be viewed in a negative light.

Romney, while working at Bain Capital, sent many jobs overseas to China. He was the original Terminator and jobs outsourcer. Now, he doesn’t want to pay for public broadcast and a host of other programs which help the middle class, saying during the debate"I’m going to stop the subsidy to PBS. I’m going to stop other things. I like PBS. I love Big Bird. I actually like you too. But I’m not going to — I’m not going to keep on spending money on things to borrow money from China to pay for it."

While the comment sounded humorous when he said it, there’s nothing humorous about eliminating public broadcast and other programs such as Obamacare, Pell grants, Medicaid, Medicare and a long list of others that help and enhance the life of the middle class, when needed.

A Romney presidency will be a terrible thing for middle class Americans. Please wake up, middle class America, and stop to smell the real Romney roses before it’s too late. Romney may look nice and sound good during a debate but he will kill Big Bird and destroy our middle class too.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/debbie-hines/mitt-romney-will-kill-big_b_1945152.html