Rights not the same
as necessities
David Truscott confuses rights and
necessities in his Oct. 16 letter to The
Daily Star. The necessities of life are
food, clothing and shelter. Mr. Truscott
implies that health care is a fourth
necessity of life. But we can’t expect to
have the right to a free meal at a restaurant
or an apartment without rent. We
must pay for these things. You have a
right to work and earn money to supply
your needs, not rob others of the fruits
of their work to satisfy your needs.
The rights that we have are separate
and apart from our necessities. These
rights were enumerated in the Declaration
of Independence. They are
life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.
These are moral rights; they are our
prerogatives, not to be interfered with,
but respected by others. These rights
were codified and enumerated in the
Bill of Rights in our Constitution.
It should be noted that none of
these rights imposes an obligation on
other people. But health care is no
more a right that you have than food
or clothing or shelter. You must earn
them through your work.
In free society, those who cannot
earn these necessities must depend
on charity. There has always been a
small minority who can’t afford to supply
needs. Americans have always provided
services to satisfy these needs
through charity.
Indeed, when President Johnson
signed the bill establishing Medicare,
he did not say that the poor were getting
inadequate medical services, but
that it was an affront that these people
had to depend on charity. However,
getting health care for nothing is still
charity and calling it a moral right
doesn’t change that.
Free health care by the government
is not a moral right. It is an insult to
freedom and liberty in America.
Robert C. Beckman
Otego
Drivers, yield to
emergency vehicles
I cannot recall if it was in driver’s
education class or at the DMV that I
learned the rules concerning emergency
vehicles. I have seen very few
instances where every vehicle pulls
over for an ambulance or police car
with flashing lights. Time-wise, this
could be critical for people responding
to emergent need, and for those in
the ambulance!
Connie Hess
Treadwell
Health care system
‘broke,’ needs fixing
The debate about health care reform
is in the paper and in the news
each day. Al Gascon wrote Nov. 2, and I
quote, “While there are an unfortunate
few that cannot afford health care insurance,
most are satisfied with their
current plan and doctors.” An unfortunate
few? It’s been well established by
many bipartisan studies that show that
there are what, 40 million or so that
can’t afford or don’t have insurance.
There’s a saying that says “if it ain’t
broke, don’t fix it.” Well, it’s broke. The
legislation wants to remove the ability
of the insurance industry to not insure
people because of a pre-existing condition
and provide a government “option”
that gives people a choice of the
insurance they receive.
This is NOT Big Brother taking over
our lives. Ideally, having minimal government
involvement would be great.
But that’s not the way it is. When the
government takes its hand off ... look
at the financial and auto industry.
There needs to be government regulation
and programs. It needs to be balanced.
If major corporations could be
trusted to always steer a straight path,
we wouldn’t need it. But that’s not the
reality, is it?
Rob Baum
Oneonta
Letters to the Editor
November 17, 2009
Letters to the Editor: November 17, 2009
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Letters to the Editor: February 14, 2012
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Whenever I see a smart car, it has special meaning for me because I see in it a major part of the environmental movement's character.
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Letters to the Editor: February 14, 2012
