Thank you, Barbara Goral, for responding to my letter “No One Is Deplorable” from two weeks ago. Having consulted the dictionary once again, I don’t want to quibble about words. What I was trying to say is that I cannot condemn anyone for the cards they have been dealt in this life, but I can certainly question how they choose to play the game.
I neither like nor respect Mr. Trump and am still aghast that American society and the consistent glorification of wealth and “freedom” over human value and kindness finally led to such a person becoming president of this country. The trend was not hidden, but we chose not to recognize it. Now that it has been forcefully brought to our attention, we can unite to do something about it.
True, some people are using Trump’s “ascendence” as an excuse to be as hateful, violent, self-serving, and irresponsible as he repeatedly shows himself to be. But many more, I think, are discovering within themselves the strength and determination to speak out against what they now recognize as wrong and even un-American — witness the latest election results and, for that matter, my letters to the editor and your own.
Thank you also to Russ Lawrence for stating so clearly in his letter “Compelled to respond” that yes, health insurance is indeed not only constitutional but a national obligation. The government of this country was founded to promote the well-being of all citizens and to even the playing field so that we can all be happy and safe and use our unique gifts in the best way we know how. As it stands now, we are the only “advanced” country in the world where young people often choose their jobs and even careers not according to their interests and abilities, but according to whether or not they’ll be given the security of health insurance. Why should any of us carry such a burden?
To me it doesn’t make sense in a country as rich and supposedly generous as ours.
Mary Fahnestock-Thomas
Hamilton