I wonder why letter writer S. R. Cohen is so quick to attack neurosurgeon Ben Carson when he seems so unaware of Mr. Carson's beliefs ("Ben Carson commits 'values malpractice,'" March 16).
One would have to look far and wide to find anyone with greater moral clarity or finer track record than Dr. Carson.
Dr. Carson is not against universal health care; he just knows there are ways to do it that shouldn't involve throwing the country over a fiscal cliff, after which there will be no benefits for anyone.
A number of legislators understand the problem and are currently talking about viable alternatives, and Dr. Carson himself has proposed a fairly detailed plan for universal personal health savings accounts that would be administered and supplemented by the government yearly. The cost would be a fraction of Obamacare and give far more freedom of choice to the consumer.
It seems we have reached a point where most people are utterly unable to hear an opposing point of view, and rarely even try to find out the reasons for that point of view. Surely Mr. Cohen must realize that we all want basically the same things. The points of contention seem to be on how to get there. We have to look long and hard at human nature along the way, and at the obvious trajectories of our fiscal and other policies.
Fiscally, the national debt is unsustainable and will sink this country soon if we don't turn the ship around. Dr. Carson has said, in essence, that we cannot worry about the barnacles on the side of the ship until we first prevent it from going over the falls. That sounds reasonable to me. Why the hue and cry?
I think it wouldn't be so hard to be nice if we all tried to get more accurate information before we go on the attack. Mr. Cohen evidently thinks that conservatives say outlandish things about liberals. I can guarantee that conservatives think the left intentionally lies all the time. Let's all try to be part of the solution.
Jan Thompsen
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