DIPLOMACY
Praise for a fallen commerce secretary
President Barack Obama recently dedicated a U.N. building named after the late U.S. Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown. He and his party perished in 1996 in a plane crash in Croatia.
As a former U.S. diplomat, I witnessed Brown display diplomatic aplomb in his meetings with opposing local officials in war-torn Tuzla, Bosnia. He was an exemplary representative in the finest U.S. tradition.
Brown’s assertive trade diplomacy set a then-unmatched standard that made him a strong candidate for secretary of state in a second Clinton administration.
Had Brown survived, the current U.S. political landscape would be arguably quite different.
Earle Scarlett, Atlanta
IMMIGRATION
Illegal immigrants are assets, not liabilities
Do not believe those who claim illegal immigrants are an economic drain. Studies by the Cato Institute (and reputable economists) confirm that illegal immigrants are a net economic plus. Studies by Cato also show that we will need illegal immigrants in order to be economically viable in the future, because we have an aging population and a low birth rate. We do not need to be passing laws that are unconstitutional and inhumane.
Ken Waldrop, Woodstock
ECONOMY
Hold corporations accountable, create jobs
Our country is at a crossroads, and our Congress holds the key to where we go. Do we find a way to create jobs in both the private and public sector, putting people to work, and giving them the means to contribute to a growing economy? Or do we allow corporations to evade paying their share of the cost of having a thriving, healthy country (without which people will not have jobs, and die from preventable causes)?
Susan Mumpower-Spriggs, Doraville
PUBLIC HEALTH
Smoking near children threatens future health
We don’t see the real danger, but every few seconds, someone dies from smoking. You see kids with parents smoking in their cars. Perhaps we don’t see this as a danger for kids — but in the short term, there will be problems such as coughing; in the long term, there will be bronchitis or emphysema.
It is good to worry about adult health, but our kids are our future. If adults want to smoke elsewhere, let them — but let our kids breathe fresh air.
Levent Ozuyaman, Carrollton
HEALTH CARE
New law will bring better care for all
The Affordable Care Act will improve health care. The standardized policies required by it will decrease in cost over time as we all are offered more simple insurance options. The change to no lifetime cap may cause some increases in Georgia, but with the requirement that providers must spend 80 percent on services, prices will start to come down.
Being diagnosed with a serious condition at a young age could have meant bankruptcy, but this will happen less often in the very near future. And I will be glad when the harsh critics move on, and we can begin to improve what we have.
Bernard W. Scott, Lithonia
