‘A start in the  right direction’

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Updated 10:14 AM Friday, March 19, 2010

It is interesting how much money the Republicans are spending on scare ads on TV, trying to undermine the health care reform which, by the way, is long overdue. Any other civilized industrialized nation in the world takes care of its citizens.

First, we should remember that the eight years of (George) Bush and his administration got us into two wars, a sea of red ink, and an economy on the brink of collapse. President (Barack) Obama inherited the most awful mess any new president had to face. Eight years of mismanagement cannot be corrected in his first year.

Now back to health care. Of course, the Republicans would love to start from scratch, drag it out for years and collect many more millions from lobbyists of insurance and pharmaceutical companies, and other special interest groups. Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid are government programs that Republicans vigorously opposed. Imagine the misery of millions of Americans if these programs had been defeated.

Now the same and more millions have a chance to get out of the morass of steadily increasing health care costs. The bills in Congress now might not be ideal but it is a start in the right direction. Improvements can always be worked on in successive years.

Margaret Kindler

Oxford

Election deadline

The deadline for letters to the editor related to the May 4 election is at noon Monday, April 26. No election-related letters will be published after Friday, April 30.

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