Letters

Letters to the editor, Aug. 26

Hernando Today
Published: August 26, 2012

IDs are no burden to voters

There has been a lot of hand wringing and outrage in the past few months about the undue burden on a voter to have to show a photo to vote.

This has been called a racist move, anti-minority and a blatant attempt to suppress voter participation. Where is the outrage when these very same people have to show a photo ID to enter a federal building or buy cigarettes and alcohol?

Or that ultimate burden, to show a photo ID to board an airplane. Is requiring a photo ID for these cases an attempt to hinder minority groups from entering federal buildings or buying certain products? Or preventing them from flying?

A photo ID is an integral part of our everyday existence and should be no more a burden for voting than for other activities.

Harry Chamberlain

Spring Hill

Supporting Romney/Ryan ticket

Let me preface this by stating that I am a 64-year-old senior citizen and a Vietnam veteran.

In the coming weeks leading up to the most crucial election in my lifetime, we are going to hear lies and propaganda surrounding vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan's budget proposals regarding Medicare.

What we must know is the only people so far to gut Medicare are the liberal Democrats with the (un)Affordable Care Act, or, as I like to call it, Obama-doesn't-care.

This was done by stripping $741 billion from Medicare to fund this piece of garbage that more than 60 percent of the people do not want. In order to make Medicare solvent, Mr. Ryan's plan must be followed.

The plan affects no one over the age of 55 so everyone currently enrolled will lose nothing, so everything espoused by the socialist Democrats is nothing more than fear-mongering calculated to obfuscate and distract. In other words, typical Chicago thug politics.

Now, my fellow citizens, if you need something to give you pause in the (un)Affordable Care Act, there is a provision for an Independent Payment Advisory Board, or, as I refer to them, a death panel.

Yes, a group of bureaucrats using obscure criteria like age and prior lifestyle, such as smoking or drinking, could determine if someone can receive certain care, like say chemo for lung cancer, whether you were a smoker, had a lifesaving liver transplant, if you drank too much in their opinion or maybe had a hip or knee replacement or if you are too old according to them.

My friends I enthusiastically support the Romney/Ryan ticket, not just for me, but for my fellow seniors and our progeny lest they be left with a debt burden that was unimaginable to my forbearers. We must act now to save our country and way of life. Some of the examples of the board may seem extreme and not spelled out, but do you want a bunch of government employees deciding your treatment?

Ponder that the next time you are in line to renew your driver's license.

Mike Stansbury

Brooksville