How One Ordinary Citizen Created the Obamacare Storm

Jonathan Gruber.

Sadly, he’s become a household name – and even trended on Twitter – since his comments about Obamacare were unearthed. But the name we should all know is “Rich Weinstein.” He is the mild-mannered investment advisor from Philadelphia who found Gruber’s videos.

No, Weinstein wasn’t hired by a news agency or a conspiracy theorist group. He initially had no problem with the Affordable Care Act – he even believed Obama’s promise that he could keep his plan if he liked.

But one day, Rich received a notice that he couldn’t, after all, keep his plan, which he was told was not “ACA compliant.” When his health insurance premiums doubled, he started doubting the American people were told the truth about the healthcare law. So, he started his own personal investigation into the architects of Obamacare.

After countless hours of searching, he finally found a clip of Jonathan Gruber saying if states didn’t create exchanges, their people wouldn’t receive subsidies. He sent the video clip to the Attorney General of Indiana and multiple news outlets – Forbes, National Review, Fox News, Glenn Beck, etc. Nobody bit. Finally, when he posted a comment on a blog that caught the attention of a conservative activist, the video made it into a Forbes article.

Next, Weinstein posted a video of Gruber on Twitter. This time people noticed, and a firestorm of media attention descended on the man who detailed how stupid we Americans are. The story went viral – though the mainstream media was loathe to pick it up. (NBC’s Today picked it up a week after the story broke, and NBC’s Nightly News hasn’t mentioned it yet. ABC hasn’t mentioned Gruber on their respective Good Morning America or World News shows either.)

Perhaps it’s not shocking that major news networks were slow on the uptake for these stories, but it is sad how few media outlets had the curiosity of this citizen. What is surprising is how little Rich Weinstein is enjoying the attention.

Definitely not out for his 15 minutes of fame, Weinstein told his story on the Pat & Stu radio show and was interviewed by phone for Fox News. He didn’t grant on-camera interviews or even give Fox a photo, because he doesn’t want to be turned into a target. He wants the attention to stay on the issue at hand: our government deliberately deceived us and passed a law it knew the majority of Americans wouldn’t like.

Rich Weinstein could have joined countless others in complaining, “Why doesn’t someone do something about this?” Instead, he asked the question of himself and decided he could be the one to do something.

Weinstein is a great example of Citizens for Self-Governance’s founding pillars – an engaged citizen who did his own homework, looked into an issue himself, and was persistent enough to let others know the truth.

Our country needs more active citizens like him, even if they seem “slightly obsessed.” If politicians knew they’d be held to this level of accountability, they might be more concerned with the legislation they pass.

Who else will hold our government accountable, other than we, the sovereign citizens?