My wife and I got married...

...almost 25 years ago at Old St. Mary's (above), the oldest Catholic church in Milwaukee. I could have posted a picture of our wedding day, but I was much thinner then and had a full head of hair. (My wife hasn't changed a bit.)

I was reminded of this on Saturday night while attending the wedding of my cousin's daughter. As I looked at the young couple, I wondered if they had any idea what they were getting themselves into. For example, it never occurred to me when I was twenty-eight that one day a son of mine would be in the hospital with a serious illness.

It's been really hard on all of us but, thanks to "government-run health care," at least we won't go bankrupt.

You see, I'm self-employed and my son has autism, and no private health insurance company would touch him. Fortunately, I was able to obtain a policy for him through the state of Illinois (for which I pay handsomely). But as I said, as painful as this has been for him and for the rest of my family, we won't lose our house as a result. And, thanks to the Affordable Care Act, health care will no longer be the number one cause of bankruptcy in America. That's progress.

But that could all change if a Republican is elected president in 2012 and "Obamacare" is repealed. So before you vote, ask yourself this: Can you be 100% certain that a member of your family will never lose his health insurance? And if so, can you be 100% certain that he will never get sick?