Any civilized nation has a moral duty to take care of its poorest and
most vulnerable. Should we be any different from the other nations of
the western world? It's easy when you are a comfortable millionaire who
can afford any insurance plan you want, have a well-paying job and the
best medical coverage available to cry: "Social medicine!"
They clamor that this will bankrupt us. Pay for it by cutting out the
pork they are so fond of voting for - a bridge to nowhere, as an
example! We would not have such a deficit if a Republican administration
had not gotten us in an unjustified war in Iraq that not only has cost
us billions that could be used to finance safety net programs for the
less fortunate among us, but, even more tragic, a war that has cost
thousands of our young people's lives and tens of thousands of Iraqis'
lives.
Medicare and the VA offer indiscriminate coverage, and they have not
brought us to the socialism the Republicans clamor the new health care
bill will bring. Social Security has not brought the socialism they
clamor we are slipping into. These programs are now widely viewed as
successful and accepted by all. Would they take them away from us?
"HEARTLESS BUNCH"
I don't know what has happened to this crop of Republicans; they seem to
be a heartless bunch completely focused on their politics of
destruction. There was a time when more compassionate Republicans tried
to bring about a change in our health care system. The formidable
Republican Teddy Roosevelt called for universal health care; even the
vilified Nixon, who was forced out of office, was more compassionate
than the bunch in Congress today: he too tried to reform the health care
system.
But now, all we get from the Republican Party is vitriolic language and
gridlock. Sarah Palin, the darling of the extreme right, has the gall to
put those who voted for the health care bill in a gun's cross hair and
to exhort her supporters to "Reload!" And she is someone who could have
been one heartbeat from the presidency! Is this someone we want as a
future president? Someone who admonishes her tea party supporters to aim
their guns at politicians who disagree with her? What has become of our
beloved country to engender people like that?
Yet these Republicans have been elected by people like us! We get what
we deserve!
Henri de Marne, Waitsfield and Essex, VT.
