Letters to the editor
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Americans don't turn their backs on each other
I am an American who celebrates my independence and individualism. I also am part of a larger whole, part of a community that neither I, nor you, got to alone. We're not a country of "us and them," but a country of we the people.
We are not a country where we openly applaud someone who dies because they have no health insurance, or where soldiers, actively defending our freedom, are openly booed because they are gay. We are better than this.
As President Barack Obama said, "This is not reflective of who we are."
Just because some of us weren't born with a silver spoon in our mouths does not mean we should have to worry about where our next meal will come from. We have a social safety net to catch and care for those who need it. Are we a country that would cut the net and turn our backs on the most vulnerable?
Without the safety net, services would not be available to people with disabilities, the elderly, low-income families and children. People who depend on electric wheelchairs should not lose independence because of costly repairs. Seniors should not lose access to critical health services.
We are all part of the American melting pot and should be treated with the same respect. At a time when services like Medicaid and Medicare are at risk, we need to remember who we are and what we stand for.
We are all in the same boat. And it's sinking fast.
JANET MINICK
Brighton Heights
Greed at public cost
Regarding "Drone Warfare Marks Policy Shift" (Oct. 2), I wish to highlight the negative to this policy -- greed. While I am not anti-capitalist, certainly, and am a big fan of the use of drones, I am not a fan of an economic system that shakes down the population in the name of defense (or better roads or health care or ...) such as is done constantly, and which, as this story highlights, is cranking up.
This story presents a poster-boy argument for the need for a new capitalism, one that removes greed from must-have entities. Clothing? No, no controls there, since to buy or not is a choice.
But we must
First Published October 5, 2011 12:00 am
