12/14 Letters: What happened to ‘compassionate conservatism’?

David Brooks says “The GOP is rotting” (Dec 9). I would add the Republican view of health care to his evidence. What is it about health care that Republicans do not like? They have tried repeatedly to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which made insurance available to as many as 17 million people. Now they are attempting to dismantle it without repeal, and if they succeed through their “tax bill,” millions of people will lose their insurance and the cost will increase for the rest of us.

N.C. Republicans have blocked nearly 500,000 people from access to Medicaid. Republicans have threatened to cut funding for Medicare and Medicaid, and CHIP has been on the chopping block. Do they want people to suffer without care? Do they want people to die prematurely? Do they want people to file for bankruptcy because their medical bills are astronomical? And all of this is being done so that they can give tax breaks to the already wealthy.

George Bush campaigned on “compassionate conservatism,” but these Republicans have lost sight of compassion, and some people have the audacity to call this making America great again. What have we become?

New rules needed

Regarding “The open internet is not in danger” (Dec. 7): It seems that there is agreement on the basic concepts of net neutrality: no blocking of legal content, no throttling, no unfair discrimination and transparency in customer practices. The question is how to make that happen.

I agree with the author that the answer is not in old regulations needed in a monopoly era when operators plugged in cables to connect phone calls. That makes no sense in today’s digital, wireless, mobile world. Perhaps it is time for Congress to set a policy that makes sense for everyone. Times have changed and the policies governing this need to reflect that.

Constituents, not corporations

Regarding “Rep. Saine to lead conservative ALEC” (Dec. 12): It may sound benign, or even honorable, to describe ALEC, or the American Legislative Exchange Council, as a conservative group backed by corporations that proposes model legislation for state representatives to introduce. Here are just a few of ALEC’s models we need to look at with fresh eyes to make sure they benefit citizens, not just big business: Where the jobs went; upward wealth distribution; number of people in private prisons; why U.S. health care costs are so high; gerrymandering; Citizens United; tax cuts that benefit the wealthy; impact of temporary workers; media consolidation.

Personally, I believe state representatives should serve the interests of constituents, not corporations. I urge all citizens to pay attention to groups like ALEC. Their influence is real and might help explain why we have wage stagnation, high college tuition and systemic oppression of poor people and minorities.

This story was originally published December 13, 2017 at 10:14 AM with the headline "12/14 Letters: What happened to ‘compassionate conservatism’?."