Anyone who knows anything about statistics, especially public opinion polls knows that there are many factors, visible and hidden, which affect the results, not the least of which is their intended use. Just compare Rasmussen Reports with those produced by pollsters affiliated with MoveOn.com.

We would like to avoid the usual distracting focus on the popularity of the measures which is, either overtly or subtly, based upon a cost/benefit analysis in the mind of the observer, an analysis not unlike that which is applied to the costs of maintaining national security.

The maintenance of each citizen's right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness is the reason for the maintenance of our national security. And the omission of the right to HEALTH in the Constitution, implies that health is a privilege, rather than a right, and has permitted an every-man-for-himself, profit-driven approach to health care that has been responsible for much unnecessary suffering and death in this country.

We believe America can and should do better than that and should demonstrate its concern for the health of its citizens as the honorable and necessary thing to do, just as maintaining its national security is the honorable and necessary thing to do.

We hope you will agree with us on this so that a meaningful conversation can begin about what really is important.

Respectfully submitted,

Ange Lobue, MD, MPH, BSPharm

American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology

Academy of Television Arts and Sciences

Chantal Lobue, FNP, PAC, RN, BSN

Academy of Family Nurse Practitioners

Stanford University School of Medicine

Primary Care Associate Program

McKinleyville Family Practice

trinidadca@gmail.com