To the Editor
The people who need medical insurance through expanded Medicaid are not all “takers.”  They are your friends, family, neighbors, employees.  They probably won’t tell you everything because they are afraid to be seen as needy.  They are ashamed they can’t afford what they need.  The poor are ostracized and embarrassed.  They are human beings with constitutional rights to life.
I gathered signatures for the Proposition 2 Medicaid expansion initiative that is on the ballot for Idaho.  Out of nearly three full pages, the only people who didn’t sign were already receiving socialized healthcare; elected Idaho County officials and Idaho County employees.  One other was on Medicare, another social program.  Are they “takers?”
From the ones who did sign, I heard of exorbitant medical costs, family members who couldn’t afford to see a doctor, unaffordable insurance premiums and prescriptions.  But who hasn’t needed a hand at some time?  If charity could solve those problems, why is there still a problem?
Yes, about two per cent take advantage of the system.  Do not falsely judge and penalize the 98 per cent because of those two.  Some people double dip on their home owner exemption.  Shall we take away everyone’s property tax exemptions?
What needs to be addressed is expensive medical costs, insurance premiums and prescriptions; it would take over forty hours of work at Idaho’s minimum wage, before taxes, to get a tetanus shot at Syringa General.  
Instead of stadiums named for insurance companies, tax breaks for the top one per cent or fancy medical offices, our citizens should get what is needed – affordable healthcare, a living wage, less “I got mine and the heck with the rest of you.” 
Vote “YES” on Proposition 2 for expanded Medicaid, November 6, or vote early at your county courthouse.
Michelle Perdue
Grangeville

Letter to the Editor
Consider these facts before you vote on November 6: At least 21,904 people have died on waiting lists in states that have Medicaid Expansion.  About 650,000 disabled and handicapped have waited for years while the able bodied get health care before them (Foundation for Government Accountability).   One little girl from Little Rock, Arkansas, waited for 10 years with a rare neurological condition called Schizencephaly, while the state enrolled 300,000 able bodied adults. (FGA)
I would agree with Dr. John Livingston, appointed by Gov Otter to the Your Health Idaho oversight board in 4/2013, “Medicaid Expansion will allow many people to believe that when the government steps in, they are discharged of their personal obligation to take care of their own family, friends, neighbors.”  Besides taking away our right to help others in a personal way, we also lose the financial means to do so.  Coercion and the loss of incentive to work reduce human dignity.
Dr Livingston highlighted, “The Wall Street Journal pointed out that there are 35 million people, mostly friends and family members who provide in-home health services to 55 million patients for free…. The price tag of this care:   more than $500 billion a year….The $500 billion is almost equal to annual state and federal government Medicaid spending.”   Wow, how will the government afford to pay for Medicaid Expansion?   Will we be taxed beyond our means?  
In the Parable of the Good Samaritan in the New Testament, Luke 10: 30-37, we find that charity is personal individual attention with donation of private funds.   Nowhere in the Bible does Jesus say that the government should pay for the needy but He holds us accountable to help one another.  If charity is coerced whether by taxes or another way, it is not charity.   Charity is a personal free choice, detailed, loving, tender.  
Proposition 2 expands funding to Planned Parenthood and expands funding for abortifacient contraceptive drugs (Right to Life of Idaho) 
Vote “no” on Proposition 2 
Sheryl Nuxoll
Cottonwood

Dear Editor, 
We have a chance to elect someone who will truly represent all of us in the 1st Congressional District. Cristina McNeil is running for the seat being vacated by Raul Labrador this fall.  She strongly supports public education and would like to see more emphasis on pre-kindergarten education. She also values higher education and technical training that prepare people for jobs of the future, not the jobs of the past. She believes that health care is a basic need for everyone. She would like to see reasonable immigration policies that allow for farmers, ranchers and other industries important to Idaho’s economy to find the workers they need.  As a naturalized citizen she understands the challenges of the current immigration system. She supports increased infrastructure spending to update or replacing roads, bridges, dams, energy and drinking water that support jobs and human health and safety in Idaho. She would like to see criminal justice reform that would work to rehabilitate prisoners.
As a community organizer, working for the Idaho Community Action Network, she knows how to listen to and work with other people towards common goals.  You may have seen McNeil who has spent the summer criss-crossing the state appearing in many parades, county fairs and other events, meeting many people along the way and listening to their concerns and sharing her views. I met Cristina in Cottonwood where she attended the Idaho County Fair and the Democrats Soup Line dinner.  She is a kind and compassionate person willing to listen to and work with others.  Let’s send someone to Congress who wants to work with others to find common ground, not to fight and obstruct. Vote for common sense, common ground, and common courtesy.  Vote for Cristina McNeil for U.S Representative for the 1st Congressional District on November 6th! 
Norma Staaf
Harpster

Redneck Review!
No. 183 - 10/22/2018
Wooosh!  The sound one hears when something goes by, two fast to see, but momentarily able to hear!  In this case -- Time!   Two weeks ago, seems like yesterday... a paragraph in these reviews read: "In future reviews, the question of exposure to both sides of critical issues (being discussed) will be raised, and a look at some sources supporting positions differing from the majority liberal ones will be taken."  That is the intent of this review today.
But prior to doing that, it is also worth remembering that mid-term elections nationwide are only weeks away, and once again, the direction this country will take in the future can be significantly determined!  And as time goes by, "wooosh," it will be here before we know it!
To begin, following are submitted as "facts" that can easily be established by research, but which may not be accepted as such by many loyal Americans today!  Time and space however, prevent the "proof" which is claimed here can be provided anyone willing to take the time and effort to dig it out! Some suggestions concerning the existence of such "proof" will be provided at the end of this review.
Fact #1: Our United States is relatively young in the history of nations, but in that brief time, has risen to the envy of the world in the freedom it has provided, the wealth it has created, and the standard of living it has offered.  Our immigration problems testify to these claims!
Fact #2: That accomplishment can be traced to a belief in God, and the related Christian belief in Christ and His Great Commandment - "Love God and your neighbor as yourself." That basic principle coupled with the Ten Commandments laid the foundation for belief in the value of each individual, of free enterprise economics, of people control of government, of an individual work ethic, and a rule of law creating the environment responsible for the
success claimed above. What has happened here is a logical result of that belief system.
Fact #3: Contrast the above with the growing infatuation with socialism which is today the darling of about 75% of our college school systems, our Hollywood elite, and our national press and TV.  And it seems not to matter that the tried and failed socialist systems around the world in the past and in places like Venezuela today provide solid proof that the system has not worked,  will not work, and logically, cannot work!  And underlying the entire system is the assumption that the average individual needs help from a growing government which is determined to take care of him, with offers of  equal access to the good things of life.
Do not take my word for it!  Hundreds of books historical and analytical exist, written in favor of and in opposition to the conflicting theories above. In a sense, all these reviews do is offer a type of "funnel" into which dozens of books, and years of research have been poured, The end result claimed here is that our traditional system has given us a system unparalleled in the way of life which has resulted, whereas the socialist alternative logically and historically has always and will continue to produce starvation, poverty, and regimentation. The situation in Venezuela today is current and visible proof of the claims made here.
For the best single book found by myself to document the Christian foundation of our nation, read CONFIRM THY SOUL by Weber. And for solid evidence supporting Fact #3 above, read books by D'Souza,   Newt Gingrich, Jeanine Pirro, David Horowitz, Dick Morris, and dozens of others found on Amazon and in many public libraries.  Some are real eye openers!
Jake Wren

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