I was recently captured on film debating the nation's quest for health care reform. The caption indicated that I was arguing against health care reform. Since I oppose the legislation that is currently being reviewed and the president's plan, the assumption was that I must be for the "status quo" and against any type of reform.
This not only misrepresents my position, but is also being used to label the entire movement against the government takeover of health care. We are for health care reform. We are against giving up our freedoms.
A government-run system would immediately become the largest entitlement program this country has. The rules and restrictions would begin slowly then accelerate, adding tremendous amounts of bureaucracy that would consume ever-increasing taxes. This would suffocate innovation and spawn rationing.
America is better than that. There are better ways. A three-pronged approach needs to be undertaken: Insurance reform, tax reform and tort reform. Many articles have been written about these free market solutions that have been proven to work. Look at Texas, where tort and insurance reform has brought costs down by over 40 percent as one example.
Nationalized health care will not work. It has failed in every experiment. It is time that Americans stop depending upon the government for solutions and look to individual American ingenuity. Have Americans become so lazy that they now expect a handout?
TOM WETHERBY
Raleigh
Export the clunkers
On the TV news, I see a lot of nice vehicles now destined to be crushed. Their only crime may be they get less than 18 mpg.
Give them to Mexico where there is plenty of oil, or Cuba where '50s vintage cars are kept in mint condition, if they'll pay for shipping. It will garner much needed goodwill in the world.
Crushing will only add to the image of America as a throwaway nation. A lot of toil and ingenuity went into the manufacture of these cars. By law, they have to be operable, so give them to others who will preserve their quality.
DOUG HOLMES
Durham
Bear stories
Thanks, River Dave Owen ["Making case for Bear Watch," Herald-Sun, Aug. 2], for missing the bears. In Alaska last September, we paid a lot closer attention to our surroundings, knowing that it was grizzly country. We met a Denali Park ranger who explained that we would probably not be privileged to see a bear.
The park has few problems with bears because they have well-trained visitors, she said. She locked my eyes and explained: Stand still, raise your arms and wave (look big) and talk to the bear. "If he stands up, that doesn't mean he's getting ready to charge." If you stand still, he'll keep thinking, she said, but if you start running, instinct kicks in and he'll chase you.
We stayed in cabins most nights although we tent-camped, too. We avoided a certain section of river near Sitka when advised that a brown bear was picnicking on the salmon. We saw a quickly moving round brown hump moving through the tops of tall grasses on the Resurrection Trail. And we heard lots of stories.
At a Best Western in Wasilla, we sidled up to a grizzly ... after a taxidermist's best efforts. Looking up at a creature more than twice my height made me doubt whether I could have held my ground in sight of a live one.
Perhaps we could become wider-awake and humbler denizens of the Earth with bears closer by.
LYNN S. WILSON
Hurdle Mills
Fox in henhouse
Regarding Don Eddy's vitriol-filled letter of Aug. 12: He states, "Assuming Henry is a registered Democrat (and I'm sure she is), maybe she needs to look no further than the bathroom mirror to find her party of Stupid." I wonder why Eddy assumes all of this debt was incurred under Democratic rule and President Obama?
Is he not aware of conditions wherein the U.S. government, in the waning days of the Bush administration, had to take highly unusual measures to stave off a total fall of the U.S. banking system? Is he unaware of the actions of movers who convinced Congress, over a 30-year period, to deregulate our banking and financial laws, specifically, to gradually repeal the Glass-Stegall Act of 1933, protections and oversight enacted during the first Great Depression?
Beginning with the ascension of Ronald Reagan to the presidency, the Depository Institutions Deregulation & Monetary Control Act was passed in 1980, followed by the Garn-St. Germain Depository Institutions Act in 1982, with accompanying legislation, finalizing in 1999 with the Gramm-Leach-Bliley when certain sponsors in Congress and the Treasury Department, at a celebratory party upon its passage, toasted to "R.I.P. 50 years of Glass-Stegall." The foxes were let into the hen house and most of them got away, leaving the Obama administration to pick at the bones.
KRIS CHRISTENSEN
Raleigh
Get behind Obama
I remember standing in line 30 years ago at the old A&P, reading out loud a tabloid newspaper's ridiculous story about an "Alien, Cloven-Hooved Baby." While I was laughing, a customer whispered, "Don't laugh so loud," as some people actually believed these stories.
President Obama and his team are using intellect and reason trying to solve this huge economic and moral debacle the Republicans have left us. The Republicans burned down half the barn and Obama has a chance to rebuild it while the right wing keeps trying to sprinkle gas on the embers with fear and ignorance.
If Sean Hannity, Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck are the voices of our future, with their talk of death camps and Hitler, I'm afraid we are in some serious trouble. We, as the voting majority, have to get behind Obama and exclude the voices of fear, ignorance and greed.
We are at the crossroads in the history of our nation, where we are either going to emerge into the 21st century with hope, or leave our children the framework of a new 21st century Rovian dark ages.
BOB VASILE
Durham
Missing a year
Kelly Currin Morris will soon have been missing a year. Despite the unrelenting efforts by her family and their many supporters, she has not been located. It has been a year of agony for the Currin family.
It is my belief that there is one person, a female, who may have pertinent information. This person has been reluctant to come forward. I think that if this person were to communicate any knowledge she has to a clergyman the clergyman could divulge the information to the police and not have to reveal the source. I hope that might come to pass.
BUD ELVIN
Durham
Truth attacked
Don Edwards' letter of Aug. 20 attacks Jamie Huff for writing the truth. Liberals like Edwards are not used to the truth, so naturally it puts them on the defensive. Edwards states that it was George Bush who got us into debt. If he knew his facts, he would know that during the Bush administration the economy boomed and the stock market reached all-time highs. President Bush cut taxes for every federal taxpayer, which helped set off an unprecedented 52 straight months of job creation.
The economy began to falter when the Democrats took over Congress in 2006. That's a fact whether you like it or not.
He goes on to talk about how conservatives like Sarah Palin, Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh preach hate. Anybody with common sense knows this is untrue. I guess in Edwards' mind, when somebody speaks the truth, it is equal to speaking hate. Funny he mentions hate and forgets to mention Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Barney Frank, Keith Olbermann and Jeremiah Wright.
Huff should keep up the great work.
ANTHONY SOCHA
Durham
