Letters to the editor (Oct. 7, 2018)

Divisions

I hope by the time this gets in the paper that Brett Kavanaugh is solidly confirmed and on the U.S. Supreme Court, where he should be. It is unbelievable to me that our country is so divided that we can't work together on anything, generally speaking. It appears to me that the Democrats would not be happy no matter what the Republicans gave them. You give them an inch and they want a mile, then 2, then 10. Their wants would never end.

I think what the real issue is is that Democrats are afraid they are going to lose their method of pushing their agenda on the American people and the courts system. It’s not supposed to work that way, but somehow we have allowed it to get there. The Democrats’ big-issue items like abortion, same sex marriage and others couldn't be done through the regular channels, so they used the courts.

I have heard someone say the Democrats are the party of "rule or ruin," if they can't rule they will ruin. Why not look at all the great things going on in our country and around the world and celebrate. But no, we hate President Trump and we will oppose him no matter what till the bitter end. And Republicans, let’s build that wall to protect our citizens, stop funding abortion that kills real people before they are even born, and how about the federal government getting out of the health-care business. Republicans, let’s keep moving this country forward and giving our President the support you promised.

Roberts and Kavanaugh

So Sen. Pat Roberts has voted to give Judge Kavanaugh to a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court. In order to justify his vote, he must have taken one of only two positions: 1) He does not believe the accusations and testimony of Dr. Ford; or 2) It just doesn’t make any difference to him.

Given that President Trump himself stated publicly that he found Dr. Ford’s testimony to be credible (before bashing her at a later rally) and that a majority of the public also believed her, one must wonder what it would take to convince Pat otherwise. I rather suspect that Option 2 applies: he and other senators supporting Kavanaugh just don’t care what happened 30 years ago to Dr. Ford and apparently to many others since then. They don’t care that he clearly lied to the Senate committee on other matters or showed a complete lack of judicial temperament. They preferred to just vote the GOP party line and support our president’s choice regardless. Hopefully voters will remember should Pat choose to run again for re-election.

Consequences

The upcoming Congressional election will have significant consequences for senior citizens. There are conservative proposals now pending in Congress which would cause a cut in our monthly Social Security benefits. These include ending traditional Medicare with a private voucher system; changes in Social Security cost-of-living adjustment, which would reduce Social Security income; raising the eligibility age for both Social Security and Medicare; and large cuts in the Medicaid program, which would threaten seniors’ ability to obtain long-term care.

A Republican majority in the U.S. House and Senate, after the November election, would likely lead to enactment of some or all of these proposals. That is why seniors should closely examine the positions of James Thompson and Ron Estes in their race to represent us in Congress.