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I could not let Harold Lott’s recent editorial go by without a response. I guess I’m one of those intolerant, closed-minded folks who let emotion carry me along.4 I discovered this when I read his claim that I, as a listener to talk radio, am "not motivated nor able to think deeply about the issues" involved in health care.
He suggests that he ought to examine himself closely. I am very angry that Mr. Lott attempts to pass off people like me as lazy ignoramuses, while he offers no positive argument in favor of the bill he supports, but merely trashes Republicans. Perhaps he is unmotivated to examine the issue carefully, choosing instead to bask in his emotional rejection of a different mindset.
I will grant that some opponents of the health care "reform" bill seem to be creating havoc for the cameras, but the concerns are real, not manufactured. It’s a fact that President Barack Obama, as an Illinois state senator, kept adding mandates to what insurance companies had to cover. That ideology will not cut costs.
It’s a fact that if you tax something, you get less of it, and if you subsidize something, you get more of it. Those people who think that regulating (taxing) doctor pay and subsidizing more treatments will cut costs, much less lead to better care, are the irrational ones. The opponents are the ones who are reading the bill, no easy feat, and are taking specific terminology to task.
It’s a fact that the two most famous government-run social programs, Social Security and Medicare, are unsustainable due to unfunded liabilities. Mr. Lott refers to the "tired, worn-out excuse" that the Democratic plan will create government control of health care. Yet, Democratic leaders like Barney Frank and President Obama himself have supported that very thing.
I’ve studied economics, and I’ve read the Constitution. Mr. Lott’s editorial makes me wonder if he has done either.
Andrew Jobson
Gainesville