Friday September 17, 2010
TINA DUPUY: What’s the deal with this ‘net neutrality’ idea? TOMORROW
Opinion Page Editor: Vince Wheeler vwheeler@hpe.com (336) 888-3517
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Obamacare already has gutted Medicare Kristine Kaiser is at it again. Republicans bad; Democrats good. Kaiser says Republicans would probably cut Medicare if elected. Sorry, her beloved Democrats have already seen to its demise. A recent article in the Wall Street Journal tells how the already-passed Obamacare bill guts Medicare. The article states, “Medicare payment rates for doctors and hospitals serving seniors will be cut by 30 percent over the next three years. Under the policies of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, by 2019 Medicare payment rates will be lower than Medicaid.” There will be cuts of Medicare Part A (hospital payments) over the first 20 years of Obamacare of $3.2 trillion and Medicare Part B (physician fees and services) of almost $5 trillion even with baby boomers becoming eligible for Medicare. The article continues, “The president’s concept of spreading the wealth includes sacking the Medicare system, on which America’s seniors have come to rely for medical care, in favor of others the president’s progressive vision deems more worthy.” Also, senior citizens know history, have seen that socialism doesn’t work, and love their country. All no-no’s for a “progressive’s” agenda. It’s simple; do away with their health care. They die. Problem solved! Kaiser may remember that no Republican voted for the bill. It
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is very interesting that no Democrat who voted for Obamacare has chosen to run for office in November on that vote. Let’s also remember the Republicans are running on a platform to re-do Obamacare and protect seniors’ health care. Obama has stated he would not touch Social Security. Of course not, he’ll just make sure you die instead of collecting it. PHYLLIS PICKLESIMER High Point
Serve God by ministering to people in need Once again, the polite young Mormons have stopped by my house to save my soul and deliver the “good news.” I wish I had a penny for every Mormon – and all
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Carpenter House funds are crucial
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t was great to learn this week that a decision to cut state funding for operating the Carpenter House, a High Point shelter for battered women, has been reversed. But the good news also clearly indicates that local supporters of the shelter have work to do educating those who tend the purse strings of funding for domestic violence issues. Tom Campbell, president and CEO of Family Service of the Piedmont, said he was appreciative of local support of the effort to have funds restored, especially for help given by area legislators. The N.C. Council for Women, which allocates funding approved by the Legislature for domestic violence programs, initially said it would not allocate to Family Service funding to support the Carpenter House. But it recently said it would give about $93,000 for Carpenter House in addition to funding for a shelter in Greensboro that Family Service also operates. The organization had planned to make only one funding grant per county, Council for Women officials said. And they also said that is the way in which funding will be distributed next year. So, this is where the education for those tending the purse stings comes in. Family Service, with offices in Greensboro and High Point, operates Carpenter House and the shelter in Greensboro for women experiencing domestic violence. Guilford County is unique in North Carolina with its dual population centers – High Point and Greensboro. Because of this uniqueness, and unfortunately because of demands for this type of shelter, it only makes good sense for Family Service to operate a shelter in each city. The Carpenter House receives plenty of support from the greater High Point community. The United Way of Greater High Point gives more than $90,000 a year to help run Carpenter House, and other local foundations and individuals are huge supporters of the facility, whose location is kept confidential. Between now and next year’s state funding decisions, Campbell, area lawmakers and other High Point area leaders and organizations must help in this education process. The Council for Women needs to know this county’s uniqueness and the important role that Carpenter House plays in the greater High Point area.
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those members of other churches – who have braved my safe, 100year-old, middle class neighborhood to knock on my door. My neighborhood, filled with Episcopalians (including a priest) and dedicated members of other religions, are more moved to do good works than merely knock on doors and drop off literature – literature that almost always presents God as vengeful instead of kind and loving. Why aren’t all these do-gooders, these “messengers of Jesus” following the example of Christ? The people in my neighborhood are by no means the “least among my brothers.” Why aren’t these “disciples” out among the homeless, the downtrodden, the drug addicted, the struggling? I guess knocking on the doors of my very safe, very Christian neighborhood makes them
feel good, self-righteous. What would Jesus do? Jesus would feed the hungry, clothe the naked, comfort the suffering and provide help to the sick. I’m pretty confident that he wouldn’t just be knocking on safe doors and smugly feeling saintly when He left a trite brochure. The next time these “evangelists of God” knock on my door, I will answer. But I will ask them to join me in feeding the hungry, and clothing the needy and helping the poor. I will not accept their tracts. I will accept only their actions. Unfortunately, I know from experience that my request for them to join me in real ministry is the fastest way to get them to walk away from my door. MARY BETH YATES High Point
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Michael B. Starn Publisher Thomas L. Blount Editor Vince Wheeler Opinion Page Editor 210 Church Ave., High Point, N.C. 27262 (336) 888-3500 www.hpe.com
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Could Tea Party candidate successes in Republican Party primaries harm or help the GOP’s attraction to independent and unaffiliated voters in November? In 30 words or less (no name, address required), e-mail us your thoughts to letterbox@hpe.com. Here is one response: • One percent of Green Party votes in Florida would have made Gore president despite voter disenfranchisement and butterfly ballots. Third parties are good for country, bad for the Big Two.
dollars that the taxpayers have spent on his education – supposed to end up with his income aligned with that of the person who spent those same years studying to acquire knowledge and skills that would OPINION later be valuable to himself and to society at large? Thomas Some advocates of “social Sowell justice” would argue that ■■■ what is fundamentally unjust is that one person is born into circumstances that make that person’s chances in life radically different from the chances that others have – through no fault of one and through no merit of the others. Maybe the person who wasted educational opportunities and developed selfdestructive behavior would have turned out differently if born into a different home or a different community. That would of course be more just. But now we are no longer talking about “social” justice, unless we believe that it is all society’s fault that different families and communities have different values and priorities – and that society can “solve” that “problem.” Nor can poverty or poor education explain such differences. There are individuals who were raised by parents who were both poor and poorly educated, but who pushed their children to get the education that the parents themselves never had. Many individuals and groups would not be where they are today without that. All kinds of chance encounters – with particular people, information or circumstances – have marked turning points in many individual’s lives, whether toward fulfillment or ruin. None of these things is equal or can be made equal. If this is an injustice, it is not a “social” injustice because it is beyond the power of society. You can talk or act as if society is both omniscient and omnipotent. But, to do so would be to let words become what Thomas Hobbes called them, “the money of fools.” THOMAS SOWELL, a native of North Carolina, is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305. His Web site is www. tsowell.com.
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Differences in priorities, values matter, not words eventeenth century philosopher Thomas Hobbes said that words are wise men’s counters, but they are the money of fools. That is as painfully true today as it was four centuries ago. Using words as vehicles to try to convey your meaning is very different from taking words so literally that the words use you and confuse. Take the simple phrase “rent control.” If you take these words literally – as if they were money in the bank – you get a complete distortion of reality. New York is the city with the oldest and strongest rent control laws in the nation. San Francisco is second. But if you look at cities with the highest average rents, New York is first and San Francisco is second. Obviously, “rent control” laws do not control rent. If you check out the facts, instead of relying on words, you will discover that “gun control” laws do not control guns, the government’s “stimulus” spending does not stimulate the economy and that many “compassionate” policies inflict cruel results, such as the destruction of the black family. Do you know how many millions of people died in the war “to make the world safe for democracy” – a war that led to autocratic dynasties being replaced by totalitarian dictatorships that slaughtered far more of their own people than the dynasties had? Warm, fuzzy words and phrases have an enormous advantage in politics. None has had such a long run of political success as “social justice.” The idea cannot be refuted because it has no specific meaning. Fighting it would be like trying to punch the fog. No wonder “social justice” has been such a political success for more than a century – and counting. While the term has no defined meaning, it has emotionally powerful connotations. There is a strong sense that it is simply not right – that it is unjust – that some people are so much better off than others. Justification, even as the term is used in printing and carpentry, means aligning one thing with another. But what is the standard to which we think incomes or other benefits should be aligned? Is the person who has spent years in school goofing off, acting up or fighting – squandering the tens of thousands of
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RANDOLPH
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County Commissioners Chairman Harold Holmes (R), 6315 Roby Coe Road, Ramseur, NC 27316; 824-8121 Vice Chairman Darrell Frye (R), 2105 Shady Oak Lane, Archdale, NC 27263; 4311984 Arnold Lanier (R), 6271 Bombay School Road, Denton, NC, 27239; 857-2863 Stan Haywood (R), 978 West River Run, Asheboro, NC 27205; 625-3665 Phillip Kemp (R), 620 Holly St., Asheboro, NC 27203, 629-3277
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The Enterprise welcomes letters. The editor reserves the right to edit letters for length and clarity and decorum. Writers are limited to 300 words and to no more than one letter every two weeks. Please include name, home address and daytime phone number. Mail to: Enterprise Letter Box P.O. Box 1009 High Point, NC 27261 Fax to: (336) 888-3644 E-mail to: letterbox@hpe.com