I have to say, I love this kid.

At the age of 12, Jackson Ripley of Colorado is more tuned into current events than most children his age. Hell, he's more knowledgeable about the world around him than many adults.

Maybe it has something to do with his little sister Kennedy, who developed a hemangioma on her face shortly after she was born. That led to congestive heart failure. From the Huffington Post:



"She was very ill and in and out of the hospital for the first two years of her life. During which she had several procedures, surgeries, MRI's, CT's and hospitalized many, many times, making her our million dollar baby when she was around a year old," Lindsay Ripley [Jackson's mother] told The Huffington Post. In 2009, the flailing economy left Lindsay's husband John Ripley briefly without a job, and the family no longer had health insurance. John Ripley was employed again just three months later, but the smaller size of the company translated into a burgeoning reality that the family would have to shop for insurance elsewhere. And everywhere they shopped they were accepted, except for Kennedy. "Next to my daughter's name in big black bold letters was the word DENIED. The reason: Dollar amount previously spent, number of hospitalizations within five years and the pre-existing condition, congestive heart failure. I knew they were going to deny Kennedy, but I wasn’t prepared for how angry and sick it would make me feel," Lindsay Ripley said. "Like the insurance companies were saying my daughter was trash, she didn’t matter, wasn’t worth the same the health care and coverage the rest of us enjoy. Our only option was to purchase Kennedy an expensive policy through an insurance company exclusively for people with pre-existing conditions. Although they accepted Kennedy and took our money each month, they refused to cover her pre-existing condition, or anything caused by it, which was almost everything."

I think partly due to his sister's illness, at an early age Jackson began to notice injustices in the world that many children never see. Writing has always been a great outlet for Jackson, so three years ago when he was upset about the war in Iraq, we said, "write a letter to the president." And Jackson did. A year later when Jackson saw a homeless man in Cherry Creek and became very upset, we said "write a letter." After buying the man a Cinnabon, Jackson wrote to then-Mayor John Hickenlooper and thanked him for his efforts to end homelessness in Denver. When Jackson came home from school last week, I had the news on and they were discussing the fate of health care and preexisting condition coverage if Governor Romney were to become president. Jackson watched the segment with me. When it was over, Jackson stood up and said, "Excuse me mom, I have to go write a very strongly-worded letter!" So John and I no longer say "write a letter" because he does it on his own.

Watching his family struggle with Kennedy's illness and a broken health insurance system, Jackson became much more conscious of injustice than many other children his age. And so, having seen the benefits of Obamacare within his own family, Jackson paid close attention when Romney pledged to repeal it. Which led to the letter you're about to read. Says his mother:Emphasis mine. HA, I love that line!

Jackson explains the inspiration behind his letter like this:



My inspiration for the letter was basically my frustration. It was painful (and sometimes a little funny) to see all the people that blindly (sic) supporting Mitt Romney, and I felt like I should bring that to people's attention. I already knew that his plans for America would tear us apart, and would bring more harm than good to families like mine, so I had to make a stand. What he would do was unfair, and I wanted to say something about that.

Dear Governor Romney, I’d like to say congratulations on winning the republican nomination. But, I wish you stayed in Massachusetts.

And say something he did. Jackson's letter to Romney opens quite frankly:Have I mentioned that I love this kid? Follow me below the fold to read the entire letter.