Dear Honorable Sen. Mitch McConnell,

You are a demagogue.

I don’t say that lightly. It is against my nature to disparage another’s character.

But I can come to no other conclusion.

You are the one who, as a Senator, charged with doing the business of the country, of keeping in mind the common good, publicly divulged in 2009 that your primary legislative goal was to make sure that Barack Obama was a one-term president.

Now, on March 31, the last day to sign up for healthcare under the Affordable Care Act, you publicly say that the very same act is a “national catastrophe.”

Do you understand that words mean things? Do you understand that to name something a catastrophe is to judge it not only an abject failure, but that it has done irreparable harm? Hurricane Katrina was a catastrophe. The tsunami that hit the Japanese mainland in 2011 was a catastrophe.

The Affordable Care Act now has over 7 million sign-ons. How many of those have health insurance for the first time won’t be known for several weeks. Still, even by the most conservative and critical estimates, millions of people who previously did not have health care coverage now do. We have finally begun to catch up with the other developed nations when it comes to making sure that every one of our citizens has access to healthcare. And to make sure that the cost of the healthcare is evenly distributed.

Now Sen. McConnell, you may not agree with the methodology. You may wish it had come down differently. Frankly, I agree with you. i don’t think this is the be-all, end-all. I wish it had been crafted differently. Still, for all that I disagree with, this is a major step forward.

So how is it a catastrophe? Because it wasn’t sponsored by your party? Because it doesn’t push forward your own personal, get-reelected agenda?

I ask you this question in particular because, for all of your blathering about what’s wrong with the Affordable Care Act, neither you nor your party offered any alternative.

And since it appears that you have no interest in a rational dialogue about this issue, but only that you wish to cast aspersions on your opponent — in this case, President Obama and his clearly successful Affordable Care Act — I can come to no other conclusion than that you are a demagogue.

As a citizen of this great country, one who looks beyond party affiliation to our common good, I say, shame on you.

James K. Honig, Citizen