Dear Editor:
I read Ms. Johnson's response on July 14th. I would request that Ms. Johnson reread my letter because most of what she wrote wasn't even in it. It is almost as if she was writing from an activist play book because I never wrote, implied or even suggest the poor are lazy. Nothing was mentioned concerning Medicare or Medicaid. What I was referring to is that insurance and healthcare are not the same thing and there are alternatives to insurance. I was also stating that there are people who are claiming that the "rich" are evil and should pay for everything while the poor are more deserving and virtuous. Rich or poor, people are both good and bad, one no is more deserving than another. I also made it clear that both rich and poor were where they are by circumstance and the choices they make.
According to her letter, Ms. Johnson made choices in her life which made her successful and I applaud that, it is exactly the point I was making. I'm sure if Ms. Johnson thinks about it she made sacrifices along the way and changes to herself and her life. Now that Ms Johnson is where she is no one has the right to say to her that she did not earn nor deserve what she has. No one should claim that Ms. Johnson is now evil and what she was worked for needs to be taken away and given to someone else. That would be immoral. I have no problem with a social safety net for the sick but it doesn't have to be Medicaid or Medicare.
One example is that for centuries the Catholic Church provided all healthcare and was the origin of our modern hospitals and medicine we have today. St. Mary's hospital in Jefferson City was started as a hospital for the sick and the poor. People were grateful to the services they provided the community and donated to them heavily for their good work.
People if given the chance will often do the right thing especially when they learn how important it is. It is immoral to vilify a group of people in order to forcibly take from them what is theirs. Morality is when people have a choice to freely give of their time and money. Let people be good and moral instead of villains.
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