Stand for the national anthem
As a veteran, I respect the anthem protest in the NFL. But I don’t believe our country, flag or national anthem should be disrespected. Why don’t the kneelers show their respect by standing during the anthem and immediately afterward they can have a moment to kneel for their cause. This way they call attention to their cause, but do not disrespect our flag and what it stands for. Almost sounds too easy.
Bill Marciniak
Houlton
Trump’s legacy
By angering the madman ruling North Korea, President Donald Trump is contributing to his likely legacy — the president who successfully guided this country through a nuclear war. And Congress sits and listens.
Charlie Cameron
Addison
Expand Medicaid
Vassalboro Quarterly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers from central Maine) endorses the effort to extend Medicaid to more than 70,000 low-income Mainers who do not have health coverage.
We believe that it is our responsibility, as a caring nation, to provide access to adequate health care for the poor and the sick among us. More than 66,000 Maine registered voters petitioned to have Medicaid expansion on the November ballot, and Maine’s elected representatives in the Legislature voted for Medicaid expansion five times. (Each time it was vetoed by the governor and not overridden.)
To survive financially, our rural hospitals and clinics need all Maine adults and children to have health coverage. Now is the time to require the state to expand Medicaid coverage.
Susan Davies
Liberty
Janet Hough
Edmunds
Co-clerks,
Vassalboro Quarterly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers)
Vietnam’s lesson
David Skidmore’s reflections on the Vietnam War, in the Sept. 30/Oct. 1 edition of the Bangor Daily News, sees either folly doomed to failure or political calculation favoring stalemate. Neither Skidmore nor Ken Burns in his recent documentary face the pure lust for power that motivated our initial involvement in the war and extended the conflict beyond 1968.
President Dwight Eisenhower made Vietnam the battlefield confronting Communism when he ignored the Geneva agreement permitting Vietnamese national elections in 1954. President John Kennedy continued to be the patron of the arguably illegitimate South Vietnamese government. Rather than ensure social and equitable economic development, the United States decided to compete with Communism by force of arms. A war of choice, not dissimilar to Afghanistan and Iraq, as Skidmore points out.
Skidmore doesn’t mention, and Burns only touches upon lightly, what President Lyndon Johnson discovered before the 1968 election, left unsaid for fear of chaos. There was another choice between the folly of unbridled destruction and the insanity of protracted stalemate. That choice was peace. The U.S., South Vietnamese and the North Vietnamese were all seriously discussing a path to peace. Presidential candidate Richard Nixon sent word to the South Vietnamese that he would get a better deal, effectively scuttling the peace talks. And thousands more died.
This is the lesson America’s unwilling to recognize. People want peace. Individuals seek power. As citizens in a democracy, we can only expect peace by limiting the ability of individuals to wield unchecked power. Leaving it to the experts, without civic vigilance, is an invitation to disaster.
Jay Skriletz
Perry
End racism against Native Americans
Today, America tragically “honors” Native Americans by dishonoring them through unrelenting institutional racism. Cheered on by millions, the media, movies, government and sports have an unending “racial slurfest.” No other group faces such a massive institutional assault on their human rights.
We in Maine could draw upon our history to educate ourselves and then help teach America to truly honor Native Americans. Michael Cianchette’s Sept. 30 BDN column in part states, “And while the NFL has plenty of problems, bias against skin color does not seem to be one of them.” Many Mainers may agree. But in a September 2013 letter to the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs on behalf of the Penobscot Nation, Chief Kirk E. Francis wrote, “I write to express strong opposition to the name ‘Redskins’ for the National Football League’s Washington franchise. This term is racist and derogatory and perpetuates harmful stereotypes, etc.” He goes on to write “that name was at the heart of extreme ethnic cleansing policies.” In 1755, under the Spencer Phips proclamation, the Penobscots were hunted for their scalps as bounty for 30 years, including murder by scalping of children under age 12.
The NFL and its Washington franchise, plus Major League Baseball and its Cleveland franchise, continue to dishonor Native Americans. The MLB’s Chief Wahoo is most racist example. Both make millions merchandising prejudice. Mainers, let’s give new meaning to the old phrase, as Maine goes, so goes the Nation. Let’s lead the nation and help America bring to an end Native American institutional racism.
Joe Pickering Jr.
Bangor
Reform health insurance system
Once again I find myself relieved that the most recent attempt to replace the Affordable Care Act won’t go to the Senate floor for a vote. Relief that is immediately followed by worry as major insurance companies, including Anthem, my current insurance company, announce that they will no longer be offering insurance through the individual marketplace.
Essentially, my insurance will be disappearing at the end of this year. It seems, pass or fail, the health insurance system is not working for most of us. Had the replacement been approved, my rates would skyrocket due to my health care needs, as I have several pre-existing conditions. Not passing, it turns out, also has not been a win, as my insurance is disappearing altogether, leaving me frustrated, but also grateful that the Affordable Care Act is still there to help me afford the exorbitant cost of health insurance.
All of this brings me repeatedly back to the same question. Why are we sending our heath care dollars to a middle man whose main objective is not improving our health but increasing his profit margins? It is well past time we walk away from the current system and stop trying to “fix” health insurance in this country. The American people do not need health insurance, they need health care. It would be wonderful if our representatives would listen to the people instead of the insurance industry.
Annastasha Parker
Columbia