New administration

needs a chance

(In response to: Letters to the editor from Bonnie Beltramo and Raymond Bilkos, The Citizen, Jan. 14, page 6.)

Dear Editor,

I disagree with many of the facts put forth and would like to walk it back a bit and perhaps stir some memories.

Upon taking office in 2008 Mr. Obama set out to reform the healthcare system. Armed with a super majority in both houses of Congress the new law was formed. There was a lot of disagreement and at one point Nancy Pelosi, the House Speaker at the time, ordered the doors to the chamber locked and no Republican representatives were allowed entry. How’s that for denying a large portion of Americans their due right to representation! I believe we fought the Revolutionary War over that (and other) issue. When it came time to vote on the Obamacare bill, Nancy Pelosi, that great statesman and multi-year recipient of the “Dumber than a Box of Rocks Award,” uttered those famous words, and I paraphrase, “It’s not important what’s in the bill. What’s important is that we pass it and then we can read it to find out.” How many remember the Oklahoma representative who refused to support the bill unless every citizen in his home state received a voucher? How about the bill including vouchers for all of Congress, their staffs and other prominent politicians, labor unions, etc. Remember…If you like your doctor you can keep your doctor. Costs will go down…all lies. Remember Mr. Obama changing the bill “with a pen and a phone” well he did do that and Congress appealed it to the Supreme Court, twice. They bailed Obama out, but it doesn’t change the facts. Mr. Bilkos, you stated that 20 million people now have healthcare with another 4 million signing up. This is incorrect.

Of those 20 million “new” subscribers, most of them are people who lost their health coverages and were forced to sign up because of this bill. The 4 million you speak of are mainly the elderly, children and the poor. The 29 hour work week you mention is collateral damage because of this bill This bill was ill-conceived, poorly written and badly executed. To date the costs are spiraling out of sight. Ms. Beltramo, I’m not sure where you were headed with your comments since they were not completed, having been replaced with advertisements for an oil change special and a sale on toilet paper at Beuche’s. A wise choice in my humble opinion.

I could go on, but I think I’ve made my point. Let’s not automatically condemn the new administration right off the bat. How about if we give them a chance and see what they can come up with.

Personally, I’m optimistic!

Paul S. Lucas

If gold could save the world

Dear Editor,

If gold could save the world,

I’d vote for Trump.

If bullets could heal,

I’d arm;

If armies kept us safe,

I’d join;

If cruelty could make me kind,

I’d pull the wings from flies;

If lies

could make things real,

I’d fabricate, prevaricate, and obfuscate; project

and dance with shadows through the night;

If right were true and just,

unskewed by judgment’s club,

I’d scrub it clean and bright

and never end a tweet with “bad” or “sad”;

If truth were tamed to silence,

I’d return it to the wild

and crack my whip on every lie;

If aggression could win hearts

I’d burst the walls of every known aorta;

If yelling at people made them nice

I’d yell a pandemonium of yawp.

If facts changed people’s minds

I’d stop listening.

Lois B. Robbins

2017