Cutting congressional pay, benefits would end shutdown
Do we really want to end the government shutdown? I suppose not.
What is the incentive – cut the paychecks of everyday people who have zero ability to influence the situation in short order? Cut off pay and any health benefits to Congress until they act in a reasonable manner and resolve this issue, and it will be resolved in days if not hours.
Somehow we as citizens have to force the government to act in our best interest, not theirs, as it was originally supposed to be.
Any suggestions or courses of action would be welcomed.
Sam Lewallen Jr., Bakewell
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Founding Fathers would shudder today
Today, particularly American history is largely ignored in underfunded public education.
For example, not many of us are familiar with America’s Founding Fathers: Alexander Hamilton, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and George Washington. They risked everything to establish America as a democratic republic under the rule of law.
Imagine if they returned today, toured Trump’s White House and met Trump and his cronies. Our Founding Fathers would despair over all facets of Trump’s government.
For example, they would see through the Republicans’ flimflam tax “reform”: a tax cut for corporations and individuals. That tax “cut” created a budget deficit under Trump of $782 billion, $116 billion higher than President Obama left it two years ago.
The burden on us today is to reflect on how far removed we are from what our Founding Fathers passed to us.
We must reclaim their values of liberty, truth, justice, equality in government before Trump and his party defeat America. How would those who gave us the Bill of Rights in which the very first one protects freedom of the press respond when Trump daily opposes it and bellows “fake news.”
Faye Walter, Sewanee
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Medicare for all will be panacea
No, in the socialized medicine system hospitals are owned by the government and doctors are salaried employees. Socialized medicine works very well for the Veterans’ Administration, but this is not the same as national health insurance. A single-payer national health program is social insurance like Medicare.
Medicare for all will eliminate the rationing going on today. The U.S. already rations care based on ability to pay; if you can’t afford it, you don’t get it.
About 30,000 Americans die every year because they don’t have insurance. Right now, 30 million are uninsured, and another 40 million are under-insured.
When all patients are under one system, the pool numbers are up and the payer has a lot of clout. The VA gets a 40 percent discount on drugs because of this buying power. Why can’t we?
Please encourage your Congressmen/women to vote for HR 676 Medicare for All.
Pat Combs, Red Bank
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Hate, gridlock ruling the House
If you remember in 2018 a group of Democratic candidates promised many things to get elected. Most of the younger ones vowed not to support Nancy Pelosi for speaker. There needs to be new, younger blood in leadership, they said.
Many promised free stuff, college education and health care being two major ones. They promised they were going to Washington and change the way things are done. People drank the Kool-Aid and elected enough Democrats to take control of the House.
Guess what happened? Pelosi was voted speaker of the House. All but 63 of the Democrats voted for her, and those who didn’t were exiled so far back in the room they can’t find their way out.
The free stuff isn’t going to happen, either. Single-payer health care would increase the government cost by $36.2 trillion. Don’t overlook the word increase in that statement. That’s in addition to what we already spend.
Think your taxes might go up? It ain’t free, trust me.
So now what we have is gridlock. The Dems hate Trump personally, and they won’t let anything proceed that he proposes, not because of merit but because they hate him.
Taylor E. Cavin, Hixson
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Reader doesn’t like Sowell’s ‘facts’
Alternative facts, propaganda, lies or just faulty reasoning is indicative of prejudice. Free Press columnist Thomas Sowell is the winner.
He said he knew no one who was a “climate change denier.” The Republican Party is full of them, and industrialists (especially coal), have paid scientists who are widely discredited to claim global warming is a hoax. Republicans use “climate change” to muddy the water over global warming. Trump is a denier.
Reagan was the heart of “trickle-down” economics but was in a long line of rich Republican believers. As witnessed by Trump’s tax cut, wages haven’t risen in proportion to the tax cut; Republican trickle-down never worked.
America’s “Golden Age” economy, 1945-1975, saw average taxes on the rich above 70 percent. As taxes on the rich declined, so did America economically, especially after Reagan.
And, abortion has nothing to do with immigration. Immigrants take jobs U.S. citizens don’t want. Even the poor who have a disproportionate higher level of abortion don’t want the jobs.
The birthrate always falls in industrialized societies. Japan and South Korea, with low abortion rates and very limited immigration, can’t find people to fill even high paying jobs – misinformation whirlwind.
David Bean, Chatsworth, Ga.
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Let those without walls throw stones
Are border walls immoral?
The pope has said Trump is not a Christian because he advocates walls. But that makes the pope himself immoral for the Vatican has walls 40 feet high. And Nancy Pelosi, too, for I heard she lives behind a high fence. Also myself, for I have a locked gate and a high privacy fence, businessmen who have bars on their doors and windows, and all those living in gated communities. And you, if you live behind locked doors.
Are border walls ineffective? I heard that in the past the Democrats have voted to fund 286 miles of border wall for Israel. I also heard an Israeli official report that at one area there had been thousands of illegal immigrants coming every year. A wall reduced illegal immigrants to zero.
Our own border guards tell us that good walls have reduced illegal immigration by at least 90 percent.
Dr. Tom Herzog
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Partial shutdown absurd, immoral
Dear Sens. Alexander and Blackburn:
As an Episcopal priest who has spent his ministry serving people in trouble, I am disturbed our government is partially shut down. Because of this, many people are suffering.
To shut it down over whether we should build a wall along the Southern border is absurd. Our immigration system needs reform, but this is not how to get it done.
I am concerned about our federal employees not getting paid but particularly about our service men and women. Our Coast Guard is protecting a much larger area of land than our southern border, but they are serving without pay. This is an outrage. It is creating strain and stress on families, who have to resort to methods shameful and hurtful to them to make ends meet. This should not be tolerated.
It is immoral for senators to not pass bills presented them by the House to reopen our government. For the Senate to maintain this is a fight between the president and Democrats is irresponsible.
I call on our senators to offer leadership to reopen our government. This is what we expect from our elected representatives.
Rev. John D. Talbird Jr.