Letters to the Editor

+ Disgraceful editorial
Dear Editor:

I know you will not print this response to your editorial of Sept. 26 (“Fatal conceit”). Nonetheless, I have a strong need to respond.

It is shameful that you find it necessary to call people leeches because some may need a government subsidy to purchase affordable health insurance for their families. It may surprise you to know that many families who live in Sarasota and Manatee counties have annual incomes of $40,000 or less. Do you think these hard-working families can afford to pay thousands of dollars for health insurance? Would you prefer they receive health care in the emergency room or not at all? 

Because you found it appropriate to call these hard-working Americans leeches, what would you call the following people?

 • Those of us who have Medicare and have much of our health care paid for by the federal government.

• Those of us who deduct some of our health care costs, mortgage interest or property taxes from our taxable income.

• The residents of Sarasota, Bradenton, Longboat Key, et al, who live on the water and receive a government subsidy to pay for some of their flood insurance premium.

Finally, those of us who have a different opinion about the role of the federal government than yours are not traitors, as you imply in your disgraceful editorial.

Mike Donohue 
Sarasota

Editor’s note: Everyone receiving a government subsidy, including those of us receiving mortgage deductions and being forced to buy government-subsidized flood insurance are leeching off of others. No government subsidy is morally justified. A government-imposed subsidy is theft — coercing you at the point of a government gun or threat of jail to give up your private property for the unearned benefit of another. The alternative is voluntary trade and voluntary charity, which is far more fair, effective and efficient than government coercion. — Ed.

+ Shutdown? ... get real
Dear Editor:

All this noise about about a government shutdown is just that — noise. It is fear-mongering at its worst. “OMG! We won’t pay our military and nobody will get their Social Security checks and the parks and museums will close and you won’t be able to get a passport! ... ” Ad infinitum. Ad nauseum.

Instead of all the false drama over a shutdown, they should be taking real steps to reduce a $17 trillion debt, dealing with an absurd tax code, the invasion through our borders and totally out-of-control spending on a bunch of garbage the Feds have no business doing in the fist place.

The House voted to fund everything but Obamacare, then they did it again  with only a one year delay in Obamacare, and the fools in the Senate (on both sides) flat out rejected the proposals.

I have a message for the president, his cabinet and all of Congress: Reduce the deficit, balance the budget, protect our borders and grow the economy — and stop behaving like children.

Tad MacKie
Sarasota