Let us recall that President Obama campaigned for office with the promise of health care reform. And, we elected him to do just that.

And so, he began an effort to draft a bill after he was elected. Many are unhappy with the bill that resulted, but, keep in mind that 3,000 lobbyists from the health care industry descended on Washington, D.C. to influence the bill, and the end product was the best that the administration could do under the circumstances.

Some folks are saying Obamacare is bad because it forces people to have health insurance. All the folks on Social Security have Medicare.

They (like me) are forced to pay for Medicare – it is taken out of our check. Have you ever heard one person complain about Medicare because they are forced to pay for it? Not!

I found a site that calculated my payment for health insurance under Obamacare in California. I entered my circumstances, except used a younger age (at my age, I get Medicare). My health insurance under Obamacare would be $244. With Medicare and supplemental, my actual health insurance is about $255. Obamacare is very reasonably priced.

Then, why the obstruction?

First, there are enough Republican votes to pass the budget, according to my son. Speaker Boehner is refusing to accept the plan, and it can’t pass without his approval.

One man is jamming the machinery of government. How can he do this? He can do it because his stand on Obamacare does not threaten his reelection, which is also true of many other Republican congressman.

This means that their constituencies are saying, “I don’t want health care for myself and my family.” The irony is that many are middle class and working poor, and yet they have the same world view as millionaires, who have no issue paying their own health care.

So, the reason the government is closed is that some people vote against their own interests. They see the world through the same prism as do the rich.

This is doubly sad, because there are many more of us than there are of them. How do we turn on the lights in the hinterland?

Nelson Strasser lives in Lakeport, Calif.