Letter to Obama from 4th Grade Teacher

[Big Daddy]

I mentioned that to some body today. They were familiar with the letter and said it had been on the net for quite a while.Allegedly it is not from a teacher.

It was an interesting topic though. Everyone managed to stay civilized. Even me.

 

[Henrietta23]

I received this as a spam email from a guy I go to church with. It got mixed reactions from our generally liberal congregation.

My only experience being overseas as an American was in a small city in Russia. We arrived two days before the US declared war on Iraq in 2003. The Russian government spoke out against this. Not a comfortable feeling! No one gave us any difficulty over it however. We had several people tell us they knew they could not hold private citizens responsible for a decision made by our government.

 

[modern_pioneer]

The ole adage of don't believe everything you read on the internet comes to mind for me. Just because its written on the internet, and your on the internet, doesn't make everything on the internet true.

As a business owner, my taxes are going to soar with the nation wide health care plan. At least under this plan we have a plan. No more "your to small", no more "I need my paycheck not heath insurance", no more "boss I have to call off work because I am sick and need help, but I decided to opt out of the company plan because I can't afford it". No more will the poor get free help while the poor end of middle class can't afford to go either way, and they're left out.

Its easy to see the mind set of poor/welfare upper middle class/rich folks, what about the common joe?

Like in Europe, I hope this spreads like wildfire and knocks into our educational system. I am farm raised, I know only two things, copper and raising hogs. I can look at a hog and tell you if its of good stock. I can shape copper like its nobodys business.

I wonder how many children have been left behind and have much more to offer. If they had health care, a stable educational system? Most folks home school to teach values not quotas demand by present day school systems.

I wouldn't say some of you folks need to wake up, I would say that big business has been raping America long enough, and its about time that we all have health care. This coming from a blue collar worker and business owner that pays health care cost.

 

[me&thegals]

I would agree that healthcare is an enormous issue. It is a huge burden on business owners and employees alike. I would rather not have a paying job (just be more SS!!) but need to since the family farm could never afford our health insurance. Exactly 1/5 of my check each week goes to health insurance premiums, and that amount keeps going up. We NEED to do something about healthcare in America. We pay more than almost anybody and yet our health indicators are not anywhere near the top. Yikes!

 

[davaroo]

Good luck to stopping "the rape," as you put it. Remember a little Working Joe's paradise called Cuba? How did that work out for the regular guy? Did you ever hear the rhetoric spouted by their leaders? Go read it sometime - it published.
It was nearly verbatim to what I've just read - and heard prior to last years election. Sometimes you gotta be careful what you ask for.

Franklin Roosevelt commented that for all the money spent during the Depression by the government on programs, all it did was make more debt. Our belief that they will give us excellent care at no cost without pain and their lathering over their ability to do it is the only thing that is new or has changed.

If you read the founding documents of this nation, you wont see anything in it about welfare programs, government organized benefits, etc. They talk about he governments restrictions on taxing the citizen, in fact, going on to say that the government has jurisdiction over itself and not the lives of the citizen.

They talk about the individuals rights to make something for himself, or not - it mentions nothing about guaranteeing outcomes or leveling the playing field.

It should be kept in mind that the government as we know it does not create wealth, it takes that wealth which you have and does as it sees fit with it. That anyone would welcome that as some sort of radical, beneficial change has eluded me since day one. I especially find it notable in a forum of people intent on self-sufficiency.

I don't know what the one true answer is on the current "crisis of the day," health care. I have my suspicions, mind you, but it's not what you're currently being force fed.

But folks, it is not the governments job to take care of you. It is their job to make it possible to take care of yourself. What you do with that is your problem. That's why people risked their lives at sea, in bathtubs if need be, to get here from Cuba.

 

[Big Daddy]

What the Democrats have been trying to do for 20 years now is a long stretch from communism. Right now we have no clue what this health care plan even is. The right wing has been telling a lot of lies about what the plan entails. So far the only thing they haven't lied about is that everyone would be required to have insurance. It is hoped by those on the left that there will be a public option that will be a pool of companies not government owned that will offer policies at a much more reasonable rate than what is currently available to someone that doesn't have a job with a group plan. Since everyone would be required to have insurance the government will have to subsidize people with little or no income. Hopefully they will be able to stop the insurance companies from dropping people with prior conditions and dropping people that have individual plans that have a major medical problem after they are enrolled. Much like an auto insurer can drop you after you have a couple accidents. Hopefully a public option will force insurance companies to self regulate. I have good coverage through my employer and will keep my plan unless it changes to the worse. The claims made by those that oppose health reform that everyone has coverage if they look for it is a bunch of lies. There are millions of Americans that fall through the cracks. They make too much for public assistance and too little to pay 600 or more per month for a less than adequate policy. You can live without a car so I wouldn't expect the gov to subsidize auto insurance. You can't live without health. A sick nation can't prosper. Right now a lot of us have health care. In 15 years when premiums have doubled the scales will be tipped the other way. They need to do something before that happens.

 

[sylvie]

It should be kept in mind that the government as we know it does not create wealth, it takes that wealth which you have and does as it sees fit with it.

The basis of most any contract is to move around the fixed amount of money to agreed upon areas within the contract. Same model.

 

[me&thegals]

I don't know what I think about healthcare. I do know that costs are out of control, though. And I do believe that my family should have basic medical needs met without bankrupting ourselves either through insurance premiums or paying out of pocket.

I don't necessarily think the gov't should provide that to me as a working citizen. I see govt's job as more one of regulation. Some industries get so enormous. Greed is part of the human condition. I don't see them self regulating much, but I don't know the system inside and out, either.

I also believe that private citizens abuse healthcare. And others without healthcare end up in the ERs and drive up costs. And others simply cannot even get basic needs met that absolutely should be met.

I also believe that doctors are part of a system that does not encourage quality care. They are very much at the mercy of what insurance will cover, and not what will actually work for their patients. They are also part of a business model that demands growth. Maybe sometimes that leads to ordering procedures, surgeries and lab studies that are not strictly necessary.

It's a very complex issue. It's hard for me to wrap my head around the whole thing.

 

[davaroo]

It should be kept in mind that the government as we know it does not create wealth, it takes that wealth which you have and does as it sees fit with it.

The basis of most any contract is to move around the fixed amount of money to agreed upon areas within the contract. Same model.

I'm not a lawyer, but I am schooled in contracts to some degree. I have two real estate licenses to my credit [Sales and Management]and have seen a lot of contracts bought and sold. I gotta say, you got my eyes spinning on that one.

So what you are saying is that all money is fixed - yours, mine, and theirs, and you never really earn it or retain it? It can't grow, it can only be moved around?

Awesome, you have just opened my eys! That means taxation doesn't exist!!

They aren't really taking a portion of our hard won earnings to use without our approval - taxing us, in other words. It's really all just a fixed amount of money in the first place, and they are only moving that part of it they wish, back to their side of the contract. Is that right?

That certainly makes for a new wrinkle, doesnt it? Next April 15, I'll tell the IRS to just move the numbers around however they want, and we'll call it good. Works for me.

 

[reinbeau]

Dave, I never signed that contract I'm pretty sure a contract is made and agreed to between two parties. What's wrong with this picture is the people haven't signed onto the current contracts being offered by the government.