Traverse City Record-Eagle

Your Views

November 13, 2009

Letters to the Editor: 11/14/2009

Sound the alarm

"Choice and competition." That's the new catch phrase to sell health care reform in Washington. I recall Obama himself saying you can keep your own plan, keep your own doctor. Do you remember? The "facts" say otherwise.

Congressman Paul Ryan, who sits on the committee writing the bills, says under "all four bills" being considered, plans like my own high-deductable/HSA will be "illegal."

So much for the rhetoric!

If you oppose Obama's plans, protest in Washington, listen to talk radio, or watch Fox News, you're labeled an "angry white male." To the contrary, those who oppose the plan are a diversified group from all ethnicities. I myself am simply worried about the country's survival.

In closing, like Social Security, those writing the plan are exempting themselves and many of their supporters from its repercussions. That fact, and the fact that they're rushing its passage without us seeing it first, is further reason to sound the alarm and enough alone for its rejection.

Brian Spencer

Traverse City

Questioning safety

I would agree with Paul Ellul (Oct. 23 Forum) about the need for citizen participation in public safety in Traverse City if it were not for an incident a couple of years ago that has led me to question the role the public safety system actually plays.

I was ticketed for not having proof of insurance in my vehicle because I had given the officer an expired certificate. When I handed him the correct one, he told me that I had to see the magistrate. When I challenged this citation in front of the magistrate at the 86th district court, she advised me that the officer had no obligation to give me "two chances."

The lesson I learned from that incident is that the justice system in Traverse City is not primarily about public safety but is more accurately about revenue generation. I will certainly use caution when being asked to proactively interact with revenue scavengers disguised as public safety officials.

Should someone question the veracity of this story, I would be happy to offer the names of both the officer and the magistrate and retell this story in their presence.

John M. Casteel

Traverse City

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