Letter-writers should check their facts

The Island Now

1.) I’d like to respond to Catherine.  Obama did not kill her brother. If the Affordable Care Act, which Obama had great difficulty in getting passed, had been fully implemented, it would have meant that her brother could have had coverage even if unemployed or under a family plan; he might not have died for lack of treatment. 

And so, if Romney is elected, his declaration that he will kill Obamacare could very well disappear, and whatever the Republicans might substitute would assuredly be worth little or would be long delayed because of protracted and useless discussions in the Congress. The Republicans are for destruction of many safety-net programs.

 2.) Reacting to Frederick. As to the issue of pro-life as a reason for electing Paul Ryan, while you know, I am sure, that you are free to believe in and practice your religion, please remember that our constitution guarantees that the government will not interfere in the practice of religion, and therefore that there is a separation between church and state. 

Therefore, if government programs fund reproductive programs, they do not have to pay for programs that adhere to religious beliefs. Laws must be passed that are impartial and consented to by a majority of the Congress. 

Citizens can express and practice their religions without fear of consequences but they cannot pass laws that are dictated by religious beliefs. Ryan’s belief in life does not seem to influence his attitude toward the needy in the least. He plans to balance the budget by taking most of the money from the already much deprived classes. It is too easy to blame the poor and the suffering middle class for their predicament.

 3.) To Dr. Stephen, ho is so proud of his accomplishments. Is he not even a little uneasy about shutting himself off from the 98 percent of Americans who cannot share his prosperity? 

Several writers believe that a Republican administration, as promised in their campaign, will put our 23 million unemployed back to work. I would suggest that they look behind the promises and ideas to the actual record and the projected result of their policies. As is very well known, the so called “job creators,” the very wealthy, have not produced jobs during the period during which they had huge income tax breaks. 

I am sure that a realistic plan from Republican presidents, of whom we have had several, while the middle class was gradually losing ground in terms of real wages and, ultimately, in terms of real middle class jobs, would have been a boon. 

 4.) Dr. Morris shows little compassion for the very poor, and even less understanding of the whole problem of the unemployed and dependent. 

It is a complex problem that has bedeviled our society and does not promise an easy solution. It seemed easy simply to pay very poor people enough money to scrape by without attacking the causes. It is easier to just put out some money so that families can just subsist. 

It is much harder to provide decent educations, train unskilled workers for better jobs and fund programs that will show them how to develop work habits, build slum housing that does not cluster the poor in a demoralizing environment.

Then “welfare reform,” supposedly to cure the problem, is created. Poor working mothers are compelled to find work, but provided inadequate daycare for their children. Anybody can guess what happens to a whole generation in that case. Let’s just call real solutions that dirty word (socialism) and solve the whole problem. It’s a good all-purpose word to use in dismissing all the humane ideas that should be studied and invested in.

 

Esther Confino

New Hyde Park

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