Thankful but also hurt
I’m very thankful this Thanksgiving holiday to have been born in the United States of America. We still have our freedom, we still have our pride and we still have the most powerful military on earth. I’m thankful for all the soldiers who have served and protected our freedom. My heart goes out to all the heroes who lost their lives so to defend our freedom.
But there is a hurt in my heart this year. A hurt and concern for We the People of America. My hurt concerns the poison in our country that has spread like wildfire across America. We are no longer the United States of America. We are the Divided States of America. A divided country will not survive. A divided country sends a message to other countries that we are weak, that we are losing our power and it is time to steal our freedom.
My heart goes out to the families who are still waiting for a change in our beautiful country and still believe in “We the People.” To them and their families, Happy Thanksgiving.
Eugene Allen
Holden
Time for universal health care
It is pleasing to see that Maine state Sens. Troy Jackson and Erin Herbig will be hosting a forum in Searsport on improving life for the people of Maine.
Our health care system is the single most stultifying force for keeping innovation and productivity at bay. For the poor, MaineCare income limits keep people from striving. They simply cannot afford to work. Meanwhile, the middle class scramble with two or more jobs to pay for health insurance and resent their tax money going to pay for programs such as MaineCare, the state’s Medicaid program. This sets up a kind of class division.
And, of course, the rich, who can well afford to pay for health care, are spared caring.
We need to pool our resources for health care, paid for by the government through taxes, much as libraries, roads, firefighters, etc., are funded. I hope the Maine Legislature will join with the efforts of Maine AllCare, a nonprofit designed to educate folks about how this could work.
This single effort — universal health care — and its resulting implementation would improve everybody’s lives and will do much to heal the economic and social divisions that plague us.
Jennifer Hill
Waldo
A silence that speaks volumes
In response to President Donald Trump’s tweet calling Democrats “ human scum,” I haven’t noticed any elected Republican respond to this demonizing of more than half of the American electorate with a rebuke of the current resident of the White House for his repugnant words.
Although I’m confident Americans have grown numb to Trump’s infantile outbursts, it seems cowardly for Republican officials to remain silent when people who oppose the president’s self-serving agenda are declared enemies and are denigrated with name-calling. Sen. Susan Collins offered a full-throated and lengthy defense of accused sexual predator Brett Kavanaugh when she voted to confirm him for a seat on the Supreme Court, yet she largely remains silent as Trump continues his venomous tirades against those who would uphold their oath to protect and defend the Constitution by holding him to account for his actions.
This silence from most Republicans is deafening, and I can only conclude that Collins and her Republican colleagues don’t wish to receive electoral support from “human scum” Democrats in their upcoming election races. Their lack of courage and integrity in offering Trump their silent support for his continued lack of decency is not something they will be able to erase from the record.
Ann G. Benz
Mount Desert