We hear about free Medicare for All, but currently it is not free. We pay for it as the federal government takes it out of our checks, like Social Security, all during our working years.
Even with Medicare, seniors still have to personally pay for a lot of medicine, ambulance services, hospital care and long-term nursing home and Alzheimer’s care.
My wife is in an Alzheimer’s care facility that Medicare does not pay for. We pay $5,100 per month for this care out of our life savings.
Medicaid (not Medicare) pays this cost for poor people. My wife and I worked hard and saved our money all our lives, but now our savings are fast being depleted.
Bill Steelman, South Pittsburg
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Trump stands for what we stand for
As a Democrat, I’d like to explain why Mr. Trump is our choice. He is an egotist, but no one who ever ran for president wasn’t. He is not ideal, but the assortment of candidates we saw in 2016, and now, have no idea what’s really important.
Taking away our choice of private insurance instead of fixing it is wrong. Stating we should stay quiet while millions of babies are killed is wrong. Kneeling when our flag is displayed or our anthem played is wrong. That’s not the way to address grievances. Not protecting our citizenship by letting anyone in to break our laws is wrong.
Telling people who don’t know better everything they can imagine will be free is wrong. “A democracy can only exist until the majority discovers it can vote itself largess out of the public treasury. After that, the majority always votes for the candidate promising the most benefits with the result the democracy collapses ” – Alexander Fraser Tytler
We believe in the Bible, flag, honor and our USA. Even with his faults (and we know them), President Trump stands for the things we hold dear, and we will re-elect him.
Larry Deckard, Chickamauga, Georgia
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Too many are too dependent on aid
After dealing with welfare recipients, I have learned that there are too many freebies from the government, so why should they seek employment?
Government programs are being offered to food bank clients continually, so why work?
Some people have no employable skills but they can recite the free government services to you.
Why work? I can get free insurance, utilities, food and a free smartphone with free minutes and unlimited texting from the government.
Pat Rickett, Soddy-Daisy
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Laws of country should be obeyed
The No. 1 topic of our country over the past several years is immigration/border security. While the citizens of our country are not allowed to pick and choose what laws to obey, the individuals crossing our Southern border are allowed to do just that.
Instead of wasting our tax dollars debating such nonsense, why doesn’t someone from the left or right submit a bill changing the current immigration laws? Why? Because those politicians would not get re-elected!
Why don’t those politicians who raised their hands to give free health care to all illegal immigrants stand behind their convictions and charge the cost to their home state? Because they would not get re-elected!
I’m neither Republican nor Democrat; I am an Independent. I do not force my family values on others, but we must accept that we are to obey and uphold the laws of our country.
If we are to be without borders, what do we say to the immigrants in Dalton, Georgia, over the past 30-40 years who were deported? “Hey, we were wrong; come on back!”
If we ran our families the way our country is run, we would all be bankrupt!
Jimmy Lee Smith, Trenton, Georgia
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Flawed candidate, not Russia, in 2016
An article in the Times Free Press last Sunday, really made me mad. The article, on page F1 in the Perspective section, is titled “Trolling & Polling” by Damian Ruck.
The article’s subhead says, “U.T. study suggests correlation between Russian propaganda and 2016 election polls.” Evidently, Mr. Ruck hasn’t read the Mueller report.
He also wrote, “Because Fox News is the lone conservative network in mainstream U.S. media, there is plenty of space for alternative sources of conservative news.” I have AT&T U-verse TV, and it has a conservative news network, OANN, One America News Network, that puts Fox News to shame.
Ruck also states, “My research suggests that Russian trolls helped shift U.S public opinion in Trump’s favor in 2016. But was this enough to affect the outcome of the election? The answer is that we still don’t know.”
The Democratic Party chose a flawed candidate who couldn’t even win by cheating. My suggestion to you and your colleagues is to go somewhere and hide and lick your wounds.
Byron J. Hendrix, Cleveland, Tenn.
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Constitution forms law of the land
Robert Jeffress in his “political speech” about “America’s pending implosion” at Abba’s House says “non-Christians and atheists have perverted the U.S. Constitution by making it more inclusive to non-Christians.”
The U.S. Constitution is fully inclusive of any U.S. citizen regardless of race, creed, religion or sexual orientation and is the supreme law of the land, not a religious document. It is an egregious mistake to conflate religious beliefs with our rights as granted in the Constitution.
As for “America’s impending implosion,” it’s already happened: Nov. 8, 2016.
Rebecca Rochat
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Methodists need not apologize
The United Methodist Church has done no harm to LGBTQ members. Therefore, there is nothing to apologize for. There are some disagreements on issues with Christian beliefs and the doctrines of the church.
The church is a community of faith seeking spiritual help which perhaps is not always the truth for some. I remember after the sermon ministers used to give an invitation to come for repentance and accept Jesus Christ, the Lord and Savior. Individuals used to walk up remorsefully, seeking spiritual help and Christian fellowship. The church coerced no one to come for worship; its doors are open for whosoever will come.
The church basically is or should be the most compassionate, empathetic and accepting community. No one has to apologize because some members have a different life orientation. Rather than breaking the ties that bind, come to the altar to commit to the spiritual laws of the church.
Presently the faithful, despite some sharp differences on important issues of moral principles, share a common sense that something is terribly wrong in the church and they want to make it right.
Amos Taj, Ooltewah