Winston-Salem Journal LTE SA 03/10/12

The general welfare

Voting is as easy as the public interest and as difficult as the private gain. Who pays and who benefits facilitates each exercise of the ballot.

When taxes are fair, meaning proportionate to income and wealth, justice is served. When the public's needs and interest are met, the public benefits and the general welfare are served. Understood accordingly, universal health care and education, with safety and sanitation, must be enabled by continually developing agriculture, communication, transportation and defense.

Each citizen should ask him or herself: Do I, my family, my friends, community and nations possess the medical care and schooling from primary through graduate school to serve collective and personal needs and interests? Do we have adequate police and fire coverage with infrastructure efficacy and repair? To wit, are we protected in the air, on the ground, at our borders and in our neighborhoods — with state-of-the-art vehicles and equipment, highways and water and sewage, including the broadest of bands and the deepest of research?

Treated this way, equality is reached and inequality denied.

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MARCIALITO CAM

Winston-Salem

Rush's apology

Finally Rush Limbaugh's rabid diatribe has caught up with him, even for a few of his loyal listeners. It took at least nine sponsors to withdraw their sponsorships to force him to apologize to Sandra Fluke. He would never have done it otherwise.

He receives $56 million a year from his sponsors, and he is not about to give that up. He got so frustrated at the possibility of that loss that he apologized three times in one hour.

Rush Limbaugh has always promoted hatred of Democrats or anyone with a different opinion from his, always disregarding facts, because usually most people who would listen to him will believe anything he says.

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NAOMI J. DAVIS

Winston-Salem

Medicare revolution

Medicare is the single largest cause of the looming debt crisis in America. Medicare represents 17.3 percent of 2010 GDP. To solve the debt crisis for our grandchildren we must address Medicare now.

The "premium support" alternative of Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., would convert us from the current "fee for service" to a scalable, marketplace product. Each senior would receive a fixed amount to buy health insurance. The poor would receive more support to offset out-of-pocket expenses, and the rich less. Payment would further be risk-adjusted for the very sick to assure full coverage.

Complicated? You betcha. But insurance companies would compete for the business at three levels: low option, base option and high option. Medicare is currently an open-ended system where expenditures are uncontrolled and unsustainable. Premium support would provide broader coverage with funds from the high option to support the base option. Premium support would be capped at inflation or moves in GDP plus 50 basis points. Medicare has been rising over 6 percent annually.

Now here is the good news: premium support works regardless of who wins the election. Obamacare created the Independent Payment Advisory Board. The board lacks the enforcement tools to limit increases. Even if it did, doctors would reduce services (supply) and force hospitals to close from lack of procedures until prices (demand) pick up.

Ryan's plan is not perfect and there are some bugs to work out, but please vote often and early.

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HIL CASSELL

Lewisville

Christian hate, hypocrisy

What has happened to many of my Christian sisters and brothers? The hatred and hypocrisy spewed by many have made me sit back and wonder why this is happening. Blatant hatred directed toward a Christian president is so embarrassing — and to add that the president doesn't love his country is unbelievable ("Go Graham," March 2)! Who are these people to judge?

I truly believe a segment of our population is so threatened by a changing country and world and remain "closet" bigots that we will never move beyond this hate-filled mindset until these folks fade away. Could they really say that if President Obama's skin was white instead of black, they would have such disrespect and hatred for him? They should get real with themselves.

In my opinion, today's extreme conservatism equals hypocrisy. They just pick the parts of the Bible that fit their mindset and conveniently ignore other parts. If this country continues to be kidnapped by this way of thinking, then it is a fact that our children will have a very bleak future indeed.

I know that many will say I'm wrong, but all I ask is for once that they just be truthful with themselves. By the way, I guess I'm reading a different Bible or maybe some pages are left out of theirs. Please re-read the Sermon on the Mount.

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MITZI V. LOGAN

Rural Hall

Finish the Thought

Briefly complete the sentence below and send it to us at letters@wsjournal.com. We'll print some of the results in a few days. Only signed entries, please, no anonymous ones.

"Mitt Romney could close the deal by …"