Letters To The editor: Can’t Afford It? Or, Won’t Afford It?
Can't Afford It? Or, Won't Afford It?
Editor, Times-Dispatch: Recently, I was struck by a front-page photo of a young woman holding up and surrounded by shoes. "Renters Taking a Risk," was a news story on the need for students and other young people to protect themselves with renter's insurance. The data show that 53 percent of college-age renters own $10,000 to $50,000 worth of possessions.
It reminded me of an episode from the popular HBO television series, "Sex and the City," when Carrie Bradshaw suddenly realizes she doesn't have any money saved. But it is pointed out to her that she owns probably $10,000 worth of expensive Manolo Blahnik shoes with very little resale value.
There are many in this same age bracket who respond that they cannot afford health insurance. Young, single persons in good health, willing to purchase health insurance with a high deductible (say $2,500), will find that Anthem Blue Cross/Blue Shield can offer a policy for less than $100 a month -- depending upon where they live. We have done a poor job instilling responsibility in the younger generation -- the now-radical concept that they are responsible for their own choices.
Mike Szydlowski.
Woodberry Forest.
Control Malpractice -- Not Health Care
Editor, Times-Dispatch: Has anybody looked at the basic causes of our spiraling medical costs, or have we as a nation decided to let the politicians and bureaucrats throw our tax dollars at the problem and take care of us from cradle to grave? One of the major costs that raises everybody's medical expenses is malpractice insurance.
Why not let the government pick up the tab for malpractice insurance, thereby reducing the cost of medical care to the consumer and the insurance carriers? To pay for the cost of this program, tax the attorneys and those who benefit from malpractice suits.
Perhaps if this simple solution were applied it would make medical care affordable to all, and we wouldn't have to be dependent on the whims, vagaries, and sluggishness of government bureaucracy when we need medical attention.
A possible side effect could be reduced medical costs and lower medical insurance bills. That's a cure I would be happy to see.
Nancy Van Auken.
Chesterfield.
President Is No Hitler, But Town Halls Threaten
Editor, Times-Dispatch: In the spring of 1934, a baby was arrested in Nazi Germany, not because she was Jewish, but as a hostage to lure her father back to certain death. He had been arrested as a member of the democratic Weimar Republic legislature after Hitler came to power in 1933. He was imprisoned in Oranienburg, the first of the concentration camps that were the beginnings of the Holocaust.
The father's escape from Oranienburg and the rescue of the baby is a story for another time. The rise of the Nazis and the destruction of the German republic were caused by many economic problems of that time, but the violent silencing of rational discussion at town forums by the Nazis and the communist thugs was a critical contributing factor. Their propaganda machines used outrageous lies to destroy the Weimar Republic.
In America, our Republic has survived as a work in progress with its freedom paid for by the words and deeds of Americans who understood its fragile nature. Now America is under attack from radio and TV propagandists. These haters of America provide a drumbeat of simple answers for complex problems. They have directly attacked the president with a series of lies and innuendos, calling him a racist and an anti-Semite. Of course, Americans should always question the government, but town meetings where armed people appear with an implied threat to use their firearms, repeating lies about death panels, and carrying pictures of the president with a Hitler-type mustache are beyond rational disagreement -- and a serious danger to our democracy. People can disagree without being hatefully disagreeable. (By the way, the baby and I have been married for the past 53 years.)
Richard Brandt.
Richmond.
Reader Reactions
Yes if German citizens had defied Hitler when he and his propaganda machine offered them the “New Germany” he could have been sent back to Austria and his house painting.
They did not, and he and his super propaganda machine rolled right over them.
They believed everything he shouted at them. Regardless of how blatant the lies were or how proposterous the schemes.
He was in their face morning noon and night. Speechifying.
He was mesmerizing and persuasive but in the end it was the fault of the people who did not want to recognize the wickedness and allowed themselves to be lulled into a state of moral narcolepsy by a demogogue extradionaire. He promised to “transform” the nation, he just didn’t say into what.
I am of that generation that lived in Europe at the end of the war and saw first hand and often the reports in the newspapers and especially the Pathe newsreels, endless repeats of the speeches and demonstations. As though by viewing the material over and over again people could make sense of what happened.
What happened was that the Germans were so anxious for the new identity Hitler offered them that they didn’t want to know the cost. They got to the point where they were totally desensitized to the evil around them.
And then it was too late.
I am certainly for personal responsibility, but I think part of the reason young people are not buying helath insurance is a sense of fatalism and even nihilism. Some don’t see the point when they are already paying for Baby Boomer pensions in the form of Social Security- pensions that younger generations don’t have a prayer of seeing.
As for health care, if Americans can ever see beyond the political/corporate propoganda, they might realize that single payer is the ONLY health care system that they can afford- now and in the future.
Related:
Blackbird: Your answer is in Ecclesiastes. ‘There is no new thing under the sun.‘ What is, was, and will be.
Ok, so maybe there is some relavance here. Everyone forgets that Germans had two bad choices in pre-war Germany.
It wasn’t NAZI or Freedom. It was NAZI or Communism. Many Germans might still believe that they were fighting against the RED MENACE in WWII and their fight was justified. History actually has borne that out, hasn’t it?
Similar (but maybe opposite?) to the way Napolean’s fight started out as a fight for the common man against the rich aristocracy….but people embraced it because they thought it was right, only to learn both were bad choices.
Isn’t that what we have today? Both sides are displaying bad tempers and both are accusing the other of evil doings.
We, in the center are losing the battle to the extemes…and isn’t that what happened in Hitler’s Germany and Napolean’s France…so maybe that is relevant after all. Is America finally showing it’s age. Is America really above it’s European attitude and Heritage of superiority? Will it be the destruction of of all? Another Civil War perhaps. I can see the grounds for something like that if I take things to the extreme. Maybe we all need to take a deep breath before we get there?
Mr. Brandt, lots of folks in Weimar Germany soft-pedaled Hitler as Mussolini-lite. People chose to sweep his more disturbing views and policies under the rug. They accomodated themselves to him, elected him and reaped the whirlwind. There were the proverbial voices crying in the wilderness, but they were dismissed and I suspect later ‘dealt with’ after Hitler came to power. If the powers that be in this country - and by that I mean powers of BOTH parties - do not want uncomplimentary comparisons made of them, then it is incumbent upon them to stop using the rhetoric and tactics of those they are being described as. You castigate the ‘haters’, but Nancy Pelosi, Janet Napolitano, Eric Holder and many others get a free pass to label people as ‘domestic terrorists’or ‘domestic security threats’ simply because they don’t like a government policy. Their rhetoric is straight out of the Nazi playbook of demonization of opponents. They can call their political opponents Nazis, but not vice-versa. Sir, it cuts both ways. The left in this country has been escalating the rhetorical war for decades and the right is now deciding to match them. Are you prepared to criticize ALL parties or only the one you do not side with?
The whole NAZI thing is a very bad road to travel on. None of us are NAZIS, but the discourse on TV makes us believe we all hate each other.
I can’t stand it. All we have to do as Americans is simple…turn off the TV, watch something else, read a book, take a walk, breath deep, listen to some music, and talk to each other…we are not all bad people. Most are pretty rational thoughtful people, but even thoughtful people can get emotional. Watching politically slanted news whether is’s from FOX or MSNBC is really not very healthy. I am sure if you measured viewers blood pressure it increases rapidly.
Truth in news is hard to find these days, one can’t even believe fair and balanced is…fair and balanced. Yes, there ARE two sides to the story, but I get tired switching between stations to find the two sides. Why not just have a station that just tells the facts with no slants,no side comments, no arguing, I would watch.
Bryan you are right. I have attended many rallies and I write to the pres, congress, senate and gov on a very regular basis. I listen to talk radio, I watch fox news. I am an intelligent woman. I have commonsense and morals, which is lacking in the liberal community. How dare liberals accuse me of racism. Can they not hear themselves…they have the “black caucus, NAAPC, UNGF,....I believe black people are okay with their color. They are the only race that get to celebrate their color….who cares if you are black, white, green or purple. If you are offended by ‘racism’ then shut your mouth, shut down JET, and forget all the ‘perks’ black people get. My neighbor is a proud Asian, he gets nothing, he is not recognized, he ok with that. He is just an American, not an Asian American, hyphenated AMericans are NOT.
Malpractice
I was wondering the same thing about the Gov’t offering malpractice insurance, also, but I am sure there is some rule against it, or someone who call it “government run” and it would kill the idea. My question is do companies that offer malpractice insurance make money of it? Shouldn’t it be more of a FDIC kind of insurance where everyone pays in to a gov’t fund, and not try to make a profit from it? Wouldn’t that cut down on the cost?
My other question asks about what would happen to malpractice if there was a single payer system? Like what happens in Canada if there is malpractice, who is responsible? The government or do Doctors in other countries still have malpractice insurance, does anyone know the answer?
Good try, but America has been under assault from the media for almost 40 years. They are called ABC, CBS, NBC and lately CNN and MSNBC. Where were these networks when the protesters were in Washington last week. They chose not to attend because it would have cast a negative light on their “chosen one.“ One does not have to wonder why Pelosi, Biden, Frank, et al, complain when conservative talk shows point out the actual cost of the give away programs they endorse. It’s because the the “main stream media” turns a blind eye to these things.
Nice try Mr Brandt in trying to inject racism and anti-Semitism into your side’s losing argument.
I’m sure the selective news outlets you choose for your information failed to tell you Democrat Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi was THE FIRST to imply over 1/2 of the US population were Nazis because they question government run health care. Pelosi even almost got the correct pronunciation of the word swastika right.
The person (singular) who touted an assault weapon at a rally was a Lyndon LaRouche DEMOCRAT. MSNBC discovered the protester with a firearm and filmed only the lower half of his body and the weapon itself. MSNBC ran a biased news story to imply Republicans are fanatical racists based on the images they provided. It was later discovered the “racist” who was touting the firearm had his face edited out by MSNBC. He was a black guy.
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