Last week, Senator and former presidential contender, Rand Paul told Congressional Republicans that they should not vote to oust Obamacare without deciding to vote on a new bill and program to take its place, calling it a “huge mistake.” Ever since its conception, Obamacare has been the clear target that has shed light on the partisan divide between Democrats and Republicans. Quoting Vice President-Elect Mike Pence, Republicans view Obamacare as, “a Dem[ocrat] disaster.”

More than 8 years ago, President Barack Obama ran his campaign platform on bipartisanship and 'reaching a hand out' to the other side of the aisle. Simultaneously, Republicans figured that the easiest way to prohibit him from reaching that goal was to not cooperate, and it worked — for Republicans, at least. During President Obama’s first few days and weeks in office, America was going through one of the worst economic downturns since the Great Depression and his administration wanted to pass a stimulus package immediately to get the economy back on its feet; however, an opposition was quickly mounted by the Republicans against the president and his bill. The stimulus passed without a single Republican vote in the House of Representatives, opening President Obama’s eyes to just how hard it was going to be for him to get anything done in Congress. The stimulus definitely could have done more, but it worked and stopped a second recession and ultimately, another Great Depression.

After the passage of the stimulus package was the conception of the Affordable Care Act, or, as it’s more commonly known, “Obamacare,” which was another uphill battle for the Democratic president. Former Speaker of the House John Boehner, who is a Republican, recalls the early days of the Obamacare bill in an exclusive interview with VICE News as, “Obamacare was the most visible example of the giant divide breaking apart even further...it was like dropping a stick of dynamite between a small crevice in the earth.” Republicans at the time portrayed the Affordable Care Act as a threat to states' rights and coined the phrase, “Government takeover of Healthcare,” which quickly gained popularity and momentum. Paralleling with the idea of government takeover, they also made it appear as if the government would be able to create some type of agency in which they get to decide who lives and who dies while being covered by this insurance.

Even now, in 2017, Republicans are still waging war against Obamacare and, with a Trump presidency, are threatening to revoke it without giving a clear plan on what will replace it. In any event, they have a plan — not a good one in the slightest, but a plan nonetheless: Repeal and replace. The idea behind this is that for 18 months to 3 years, not a single thing will change with Obamacare unless they find a solution before or during that time frame. If nothing is accomplished during that time frame, those who depend on Obamacare have the strong possibility of losing their benefits and Democrats want the American people to know in a very clear and blunt manner that Republicans are to be put to blame.

I see two clear problems, among many others with the Republican plan, but one is on the Republican side and another on the Democratic side.

The problem that I see on the Democratic side is that instead of repairing relations with the Republicans and working with them to improve on Obamacare or simply even helping construct a new system, they immediately are going to put the blame on them if the bottom falls out on it. This clearly shows that politics today, more than ever, seems to be a constant game of finger pointing. In my eyes, everything can always be improved. Imagine a perfect island: Beautiful warm sands, crystal clear water, a few palm trees with coconuts. Sounds perfect right? But there’s always something that can be improved upon with the island. Maybe the addition of a hammock between two trees, maybe a tree hut mansion, or maybe even Jimmy Buffett constantly singing "Margaritaville" to you. Okay maybe no to the last part. So instead of letting the Republicans fail, lend a hand, be the bigger man so to speak. Isn’t that what President Obama ran on? Yes the Republicans shut the door in the Democrats face multiple times on multiple bills, but that doesn’t mean that they have to continue and feed into the cycle.

Transitioning to the Republican side of the problem, their solution is no solution at all. Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said on the matter, “The Republicans say repeal and replace. The only thing that has going for it is alliteration. They have no replacement plan... to repeal and then to delay is an act of cowardice, it says ‘we don’t know what we’re doing.’” Similarly, Rand Paul said, “We need to think through how we do this, and it's a huge mistake for Republicans if they do not vote for replacement on the same day as we vote for repeal."

Entitlements have crippled America in recent years causing a massive political divide and allowing people to almost make it a lifestyle to depend on them. Obamacare, in my honest opinion, is a flawed system and does need to be repealed and replaced with a stronger, more thought-out and nationally supported system. A major flaw of Obamacare is that it is susceptible to fraud, as reported by CNBC when their investigators received Obamacare subsidies even though they gave fake names of people who do not exist and who did not file their income taxes. In any event, Republicans need to think of a plan on what they're going to put in place before they repeal Obamacare and cause problems for millions of Americans who benefit off of the flawed system.

Both parties are failing America and this isn’t a Republican or a Democratic ordeal, this is an American ordeal. 82% of the citizens of the United States disapprove of what Congress has been doing in the past years. Programs such as Obamacare have failed and have been put together half-heartedly because of petty politics and for the political race so that one party can claim that they were the ones to pass the bill. Congress is supposed to be one body with one voice as the legislative branch of the United States, not two voices saying two completely different things. The American people need to be aware strongly of who they are electing as their representatives to Congress because as far as I’m concerned, this petty game Congress is playing has to end if the United States wants to continue to be the world leader.