U.S. can’t afford more immigrants on its dole
Thousands of immigrants are headed to the U.S. in a human caravan. The scenes on TV depict hopefuls of all ages who think if they can just make it to our border, they can find work, subsidized housing, free medical care, food stamps and free education for their children. We the citizens know these benefits are not “free.” We know how hard we have to work to provide for our existing, less fortunate citizens, some of whom are veterans who gave so much and are in need. This human caravan is so great in number that it has caused fear that, should they make it to our border, our government will be forced to use force to stop the onslaught, and in doing so will appear to lack compassion – when in reality it will be that we simply cannot afford our uninvited guests.
BECKY SMITH, ROSWELL
Election’s outcome will affect Ga.’s healthcare
I moved here in 1995, and since then I’ve read time and time again about the plight of rural Georgia residents losing their emergency rooms, hospitals and medical professionals. It appears we may be on the cusp of electing a governor who wants to expand Medicaid in the state, which I believe is throwing a lifeline to our rural residents who desperately need it. However, in 2014, our Legislature took that authority away from the governor and kept it for themselves. Therefore, I think the only way to get our rural citizens the help they need is to change the majority party in Georgia. Before you cast your ballot, think about the consequences of voting for that incumbent if it means you won’t get the help you will need. Health services are a matter of life and death.
MAUREEN BEAMER, DUNWOODY
Voter verification isn’t voter suppression
Voter verification is not voter suppression, but not to those on the left. One person’s adherence to the voting laws becomes another person’s claim of discrimination. Leonard Pitts Jr. sounds this voter-suppression/discrimination dog whistle in his “Show the GOP their fear of young voters is justified” (Opinion, Oct. 21). It’s easy to see the confusion’s source since so many on the Left, including political office-seekers, want to be seen as the heroes of illegal immigrants and other non-citizens by securing for them the right to vote, thereby boosting their own political power. Meanwhile, those on the Right see suffrage as belonging only to citizens and, importantly, those citizens who can be verified as being who they claim to be. Each illegitimate voter serves to nullify the vote of a legitimate voter, which is an actual suppression of the vote – and a cancellation of the legitimate voter’s rights.
GREGORY MARSHALL, MARIETTA
Voting can help U.S. steer course founders desired
I’m an old white male of similar age and credentials (two Harvard degrees) to the white male senators who rammed through the appointment of an inadequately vetted and perhaps unsuitable U.S. Supreme Court nominee. Similarities stop there. Gentlemen, may you someday realize your fellow Americans who are black, brown, LGBTQ, Hispanic and other ethnicities, immigrants – and particularly female – are, without regard to their religious beliefs, your equals. Until then, you and all whites who carry your virus (including those very fine Charlottesville people, the Mississippi/Montana jeering mobs, Messrs. Kemp and Woodall, and Mss. Blackburn, Conway, Handel, Kremer and Sanders) profane the American heritage embedded in your citizenship – citizenship you inherited. To those they treat as lesser, Vote! To majority whites embracing full equality, Vote! What progress we make this round will be the base on which we build to accomplish the America the Constitution contemplates.
THOMAS WARDELL, ATLANTA
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