Letters to the editor for Aug. 27

You can’t change history, but you can change the culture

The people in this country better wake up as they’re following right in line with what the global one world order wants and that’s to create hate between we the people.

The Democrat Party and the rogues in the Republican Party are in unison showing themselves for money and power while throwing we the people under the bus. Donald Trump has done nothing but try to do what the American people wanted and do what he said he was going to do.

Isn’t it kind of funny all these big business people are going against him and they’re siding with the Democrats, and the Democrats hate big business and big money, isn’t that kind of funny? Now they got us trying to destroy our culture and our history. Well, you can’t change history, but you can change the culture.

Communism slides into a country and must change the culture to install the culture they want, and you won’t like the results after you found out you been used, like the German people did and the Russian people did and the Chinese people did, etc.

Once they take full hold they will eradicate though she will not comply market down as you won’t believe it until it happens and then it’s too late. God bless America, and I’m sorry I laid my life on the line for this country fighting communism so the three spoiled brats can be brain-dead idiots and folder demonically evil left.

A violation of patient rights with one-size-fits-all remedy

July 1, 2017, the state of Illinois enacted a new drug law that states a doctor is not allowed to prescribe pain medication to any patient unless they have cancer or sickle cell anemia. As a patient suffering from a massive neck and shoulders injury, I like to know where my rights as a patient are. According to the law, one must go to a pain management facility just to get pain medication. I have been on pain medication for 16-plus years waiting for technology to advance. I suffered from severe paralyzing migraine headaches, and I’m in constant neck and back pain. Now, thanks to worthless politicians, I must either search for illegal street drugs to stop the pain, or go cold turkey because I can’t afford to pay the discounted, $200 a month to an overcharging medical facility.

I believe it to be a total violation of patient rights (for real patients) to be looped in with street junkies in a one-size-fits-all remedy. Where are the attorneys to fight for our rights? Where are the attorneys to get court orders to prevent this from happening to myself and others? Obviously there are no attorneys willing to fight for us because we are poor and classified as junkies, just because we have a medical condition that technology cannot fix. Simply, I and others are not entitled to live our lives as pain-free as possible, simply because some worthless politician did not deem us or our medical condition worthy.

Join the conversation

You might have seen my name at the bottom of some letters to the editor. If you’re sick of hearing my views, why not write and share yours?

I started writing because I wanted to join a conversation with other thoughtful people who might not think like me. I thought conversation would make us both better informed, more tolerant of each other’s views, and lead to common ground. I found only a handful of people write most of the letters. Most people seem to be hiding their opinions. We need to bridge our differences not hide them under the rug.

Writing a letter takes a little time, but it’s worth it. You’ll clarify your beliefs for yourself and enlighten others. Representatives notice when constituents care enough to write. Together, we can change hearts and minds.

Once we get past statues and Russia we’ll still have very hard problems to solve and divisions to heal. The media, Congress, state governments, and the Executive Branch don’t seem to be working properly right now, but that’s not fatal. We still have the voice of the people. Through our shared love of this country and respect for each other we can guide our institutions back from the edge.

Take a minute, share your opinion about an issue you care about. Keep it short. If the president can make policy with 140 characters, think what you could do with 250 words! Our country needs as many well-informed, reasonable voices as she can muster right now.

It’s time for you to join the conversation!

My religious freedoms end where your religious freedoms begin

After the events in Charlottesville and the president’s usual ADHD-influenced response, I think people should rethink what it means when they identify themselves as conservative. According to Steve Bannon’s Breitbart subscribers in the Alt-Right, being conservative is a narrowly defined characteristic where only white, anti-abortion, gun-toting, self-proclaiming Christians with no compassion for others qualify. Really? I believe there are 50 shades of conservative gray, which are not exclusively Alt-Right Republican traits.

As a fiscal conservative, I expect federal, state, and local governments to be financially responsible with every tax dollar I provide, meaning government delivers identifiable proportional value to the American people, operates within a defined budget, and proactively minimizes waste. I believe in a free market economy where the government does not use my tax dollars to prop up businesses — that’s corporate welfare, which is true socialism.

However, my moral conservatism is in accordance with the First Amendment — government will not define legal boundaries using any specific religion. Catholics and thousands of different Protestant denominations do not agree on what Christian values are while Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, etc., do not espouse Christian values at all, so I do not support passage of any religious-based laws. My religious freedoms end where your religious freedoms begin and vice versa.

What are you? If you are one of the shades of gray, you have more in common with the majority of other Americans than you realize. Once you see that, you’ll realize you can hold both conservative and liberal views.

Answer Man gets an ‘I’ for incomplete

Roger Schlueter’s recent answer about why insurance has become so expensive gets an “I” for “incomplete.”

Medical care today, when viewed from a mid-1900 perspective, is nothing short of miraculous. Using inflation measures to analyze the cost completely ignores amazing, life-saving advancements. Would you compare the cost of a stagecoach ride in 1870 to an airplane ticket today?

Consider a friend of mine who has had both hips replaced, for a cost of roughly $100,000. Mere decades ago, his care would have likely consisted of a cane, a few doctor visits, then a wheelchair. These days he competes in iron man triathlons.

And while Schlueter briefly mentioned “countless tests to avoid lawsuits,” certainly true, he ignored medical malpractice insurance costs. This major expense of today’s practitioners is relatively new. Related topics, such as Illinois’ attempt to establish lawsuit award caps, and Justice Lloyd Karmeier’s state supreme court race, dominated BND coverage in recent years. Instead, Schlueter included the misleading trope that life expectancy in the U.S. somehow shows that its medical care is inferior to other countries.

This story was originally published August 26, 2017 at 12:00 PM with the headline "Letters to the editor for Aug. 27."