Losing Sleep Over Lisa Murkowski.

Christine Merser, July 3, 2025

Lisa and Susan after the vote. Susan is thinking, ‘well I got the upper hand on that one.’ But she doesn’t look one bit upset that her constituency will lose health care, the children of Maine will not eat, and and and. And, Lisa? Well, she has no idea what is ahead of her. But she has that pit in her stomach that says, “I have blown it.”

The night the bill passed the senate, I couldn’t sleep. I kept been thinking about Lisa Murkowski, the illustrious senator from Alaska. I was thinking about the tens of millions of people who will lose healthcare, everywhere except Alaska. People who have it now. People who go to the doctor now. What will change for them is simple. They’ll stop going. If they need a procedure, they won’t get it. And when you stop going to the doctor, and getting procedures you need, your health starts to deteriorate. It’s not immediate. But then something undetected, cancer maybe, takes hold. Or something fixable becomes terminal. And the long laundry list of what follows ends the way it always does. You die. Sometimes decades earlier than you should have.

A few weeks before the vote, the senator said she was thinking of changing parties. She also said she was afraid of the president. Afraid. We’ve all wondered about that. Some of these senators, especially the so-called centrists voting yes on bills like this, where they really don’t want to, or those around them say they don’t want to, are voting yes anyway. Are they being blackmailed? Do they fear for their families? For their lives? I’ve asked that question here before. And I’ll say it again. If that’s true, if the fear is that great, then resign. Immediately. Let someone with the courage to face death take the role that history is handing them. Because if you are afraid to stand for the people you represent, you are not fit to serve them.

And then, of course, there is her pal, Susan Collins. Why are they always walking together after these horrible, history-shifting votes, down those endless Capitol hallways, chatting like it’s just another Tuesday? As if they haven’t just voted to dismantle something vital. As if they haven’t done damage that will echo for the rest of our lifetimes. As if the future of the human race isn’t hanging in the balance while they straighten their jackets and smile for the cameras.

And then, as I continued to toss and turn, I went to what she said right afterward.

“I have struggled with this decision, and I am truly disappointed. This was not the vote I wanted to cast. But I felt that, in the end, I had no choice. It was the right vote for Alaska, but it was the wrong vote for the country.”

I realized in that moment, that the Senator has no character, no moral principles. And, I rolled over again and slept like a baby.

And now I want to talk about how she didn’t take care of Alaska at all.

For most of my years on the planet, I’ve paid taxes into the state of New York. New York pays more than its fair share of taxes into the federal government. Those poor states in the South, the ones with evil men dressed in red hats, screaming about blue liberals, are the ones being funded by the rest of us. Yes, we blue liberals who have all the money, all the success and still feel we should help others. Go figure, you feckless fools. And if, as she correctly predicts, the rest of America falls prey to deterioration of both human wellness and economic strength, then so goes Alaska. Sure, they’ve got oil, but if no one can pay for it, what good will it do them? And sure, they could sell it to other countries, but who’s going to want to buy from America? I don’t. Why would they?

More than that, the federal government was set up under the premise, which I believe to be true, that we are only as good as all 50 states. Together.

I’ve actually considered moving to a state like Alabama, or to Appalachia, to teach or do something to help people who didn’t have the same opportunities I had. I never did it, because I’m not sure I’d be a very good teacher. I have no patience and I don’t much like younger people, especially under the age of, let’s say, 12.

So if Lisa Murkowski was telling the truth after the vote, and I think in a panic she was, then she’s not only lacking in character, but she’s stupid. She doesn’t appear stupid. She doesn’t speak as if she’s stupid. But she does speak, every single time I hear her, as if she’s running it through her head six or seven times first, to make sure it sounds right. And whenever someone does that, they’re not telling the unfiltered truth, which is the only truth worth listening to in matters as important as these.

But here’s her future, as I predict it. Wherever she goes, for however long she lives, people will point. They will look at her and say, there goes the woman who took down America. There goes the woman who admitted to cutting a deal behind the scenes to take care of her family, and no one else’s. In fact, it’s worse than that. She took care of her family at the expense of every other family. What is it, 340,110,998 million people? But who’s counting?

Someone will mostly likely say something in anger to her. And if they don’t, she will be anticipating that they might.

But here’s the worst part of all.

At some point, and maybe it’s already happening, it will occur to her that future generations of her family will be ashamed of who they are. Where they come from. Her children, her grandchildren, and their children will never want to say who their family is.

I think about that. I think about that with the Trumps. I think about Jared and Ivanka. There’s only so long you can hide the truth from your children about who you are and how you got where you got. Who paid for that house they live in. When they go off to college, someone will say something. And if they have any curiosity at all, they will learn the truth. The minute their world is larger than the small circle they now call their world, you learn. I know this to be true.

Take Jenna Bush, who I’ve watched on TV now and again in the early morning. I believe at some point she’s come to understand what her father did during his tenure in office. The lovely man we see now, painting portraits and dogs and hugging Michelle Obama, did some very bad things to America and to the world. Some of which have led us here, to this moment in time. While she adores him on the air, at some point, one of her picture perfect children will read something, or one of their friends will say something, and they will ask their mother if it is true. And, if she lies, they will go look it up, and it then becomes the secret that separates. I know because my family has those kinds of secrets. They fester. They are with you always.

So when I look at these horrible humans that I have to endure, and try to get up in the morning and fight, even when I don’t have a lot of ammunition, I think of their future generations. And how, like the future generations of the Nazi high command, they will know the truth. No matter how many books are banned. No matter how many lies they are told by their parents. Because in the end, someone always panics. And speaks out loud what should have been kept to themselves. And, while I take no pleasure in the pain they will face, I hope at some point the Lisa’s of the senate will wake up one morning, sooner rather than later, and realize they will reap what they sow. And, worse, their family will pay the price.

Lisa, you are a fool. And you are a traitor. And, if I see you, and I have the opportunity, I will tell you that I have no respect for you and I hope you will one day apologize to the nation you betrayed. Politely and with grace.