Page 4 - Dinuba Sentinel 11-1-18 E-edition

Opinion
Twill destroy you from within.”
his quote was excerpted from a speech delivered by Nikita Khrushchev to Western
Fred Hall
A4 | Thursday, November 1, 2018
Fred Hall - Publisher Rick Curiel - Editor
In My Opinion
e slow in ltration of socialism
“We will take America without firing a shot...we will bury you! We can’t expect the American people to jump from Capitalism to Communism, but we can assist their elected
leaders in giving them small doses of Socialism, until they awaken one day to find they have Communism. We do not have to invade the United States,
we
Ambassadors at the Polish embassy in Moscow on November 18, 1956.
With that in mind, it appears to
us that the ugly face of socialism is beginning to overtly appear with the latest rendition of young candidates announcing for public office. Through the years since Mr. Khrushchev’s speech these people maintained a more covert operation. Their initial intrusion was into our educational system because young minds are easier to mold and shape. The universities, especially since the 60’s, have produced millions of graduates with a liberal bent in their politics.
Once the process has begun and as professors of that day grew older and retired, the next generation of instructors were ready and eager to assume the positions created. The process was as simple as reloading... to a point, with tenure and other considerations, it has become
so entrenched as to be almost uncorrectable.
The Republican party, for some reason, either neglected or ignored the university system as a means
of moulding the next generation of voters. The Party ceded control of the educational process to the Democrats. Today, we find ourselves reaping
the results of the seeds which were sown over the period of a couple of generations.
The tilt toward socialistic government programs has been incremental but steady. More welfare options and governmental giveaways reached a crescendo when Democrats and President Obama pushed through a form of socialized medicine with ObamaCare on a straight-line party vote.
We now seem to have produced so many young socialists over the years that they are out in the open about what they propose and expect to become the norm in The United States. Not only nationalized healthcare
for a guaranteed income are some
of the ideas being offered for our consideration. Consideration may be too soft a word to use because they don’t seem to care whether you agree or it makes any sense economically. It’s what they want to happen. So far no one has offered any suggestions as to would pay for such a monstrosity. There are always the taxpayers—
OVote for what is right
remember you would be subsidizing a guaranteed income for everyone.
I realize that most of you are astute politically, but I would remind you that the path toward socialism on which we have been
placed has been tried elsewhere and has always been a dismal failure. The most recent example would best be represented by that which is currently happening in much of South America.
Increasingly Americans are forced to be more critical thinkers. Our university systems continue continue to politicize the educational process rather than truly teach during the allotted time for their classes; media types have become so left-leaning
in espousing their opinions instead of reporting without bias on events; the newly minted social media has no standards of conduct on their “reporting” and political posturing by the deep state speaks for itself. We need to accept no one’s word for granted and peel back the layers to reveal the real truth.
No amount of lies and distortion can cover the fact that, although we still have problems, things are better in America than they have been in a long time. The economy is growing at a good strong, steady rate; poverty is down; employment rates are down— more people, including minorities are working than ever before—income
is up and taxes have been lowered which helps create more jobs. There are problems overseas (there always have been) but as a general rule we, as a nation, enjoy more respect and a greater position than we have in quite some time. What’s not to like?
Don’t get me wrong. America
is not lost but it will require more in-depth reading and rationalization of all the increasing information we are being fed on a daily basis to guard against this slouch toward socialistic governance.
But, as always, that’s only one man’s opinion.
This week, I would like to leave you with a thought to ponder: The United States has become a place where entertainers and professional athletes are mistaken for people of importance. There are times when I’ve needed a doctor...I’ve needed a teacher...I need a farmer every day...I’ve needed an auto mechanic, a plumber, a house painter and a lot of other everyday people.
But...I have never, not even
once, needed a pro athlete, a media personality or a Hollywood entertainer for anything!
Fred Hall is the publisher of the Dinuba Sentinel
Guest Column
Maine ballot measure could help senior home health care
Not too many romantic comedies have a major character who goes bankrupt paying the health care costs of a
loved one with dementia. Although millions of American families can relate to this financial strain, it’s not typical rom-com material.
But that’s what happens to Kelsey Grammer’s character in Like Father on Netflix. The film’s writer and director, Lauren Miller Rogen, has worked to boost Alzheimer’s education and research since her mother was diagnosed with the disease more than a decade ago.
Now Miller Rogen has teamed up with her husband, comedian Seth Rogen, to support a ballot initiative that would help less well-off families cope with the steep costs of caring for older family members with dementia and other disabilities.
The initiative, which will come before voters in Maine in November, could be a national model at a time when the costs of caring for our aging population are soaring.
The cruel disease of dementia is also our country’s most costly. And it will almost certainly get much worse. The number of Americans with Alzheimer’s is on track to jump from 5.7 million today to 14 million by 2050.
Like many of the more than 16 million Americans who take care of friends and family members suffering from this disease, Kelsey Grammer’s Netflix character takes a heavy financial hit.
First he quits his job as an advertising executive to take care of his friend with dementia. Then, when the friend’s needs became too much to handle, he starts paying out of pocket for home care. Eventually he has to declare bankruptcy and loses his home after the friend dies.
In Maine, the median annual cost for full-time home care is more than $50,000 — more than the state’s annual median household income. Dementia care can run much higher because the clients need so much help.
Sarah Anderson
Medicare doesn’t cover the costs of home care, and Medicaid reimbursement rates are so low that employers have difficulty finding workers willing to do this tough work for the meager wages they offer.
If voters approve the Maine plan, any senior who needs subsidized home care (not just dementia patients) will get it.
The program will also raise wages for
workers by requiring that at least 77 percent of the public funds going to home care agencies are used for employee compensation. Family caregivers
can apply for stipends, too.
To pay for this benefit, the coalition Mainers for Home
Care is calling for a payroll tax increase that would affect the top 3 percent of earners in the state.
This would help make up for the fact that our country’s highest earners contribute just a tiny share of their income to Social Security compared to the middle class. Countries like Sweden, by contrast, have no cap on contributions to their national pension fund.
In a short video with her husband to support the Maine campaign, Lauren Miller Rogen explained that her family is lucky enough to be able to afford home care for her mother.
Living with dignity shouldn’t depend on luck. All families who want to keep their older loved ones at home should be able to do so without emptying their bank accounts. The emotional toll is hard enough to bear.
Sarah Anderson directs the Global Economy Project at the Institute for Policy Studies and co-edits Inequality. org. Follow her at @Anderson_IPS. Distributed by OtherWords.org.
dds are, I’m probably not the honestly say that, only one who has grown a to date, nothing bit perturbed by the recent has changed my
climate change – the political climate that is.
I don’t recall a time in my life
when the two sides, Democrats and Republicans, so vehemently spilled such hatred towards one another. It seems the sides have pulled so far in their given direction that both left and right have caused such a chasm in the political arena that the middle ground can only be accessed by a thin high- wire – non of whom is brave enough to venture onto.
What happened to the middle ground? Where is it?
The current political atmosphere is concerning to say the least. And it’s not a matter of one ideology over another, though that too is at stake. The greatest tragedy to come of this bitter political forum is the threat of civil unrest.
Take for example the recent bomb packages sent by what appears to
be a mentally ill Trump enthusiast,
as exhibited by the many images plastered on his confiscated van. Follow that by the ungodly massacre of eleven Jews who were worshiping in a Pittsburgh synagogue and you have a brewing of what is the worst of the people.
These acts are vile. These acts are evil. And they are a threat to civility for all Americans.
I grew up in a Democratic household, as have many Mexican- Americans. But in my young adulthood I realized that my conservative views, namely my belief in the right to life movement, caused me to be the first one in my family to vote Republican.
Since making the switch I can
Rick Curiel
position when
it comes to my political views. They are based on my conservative views and those views are based
on my Christian
upbringing.
That being said, however, I do have to say that this current administration
has been the most challenging obstacle to my political stance. And I’m not basing that on what some may call “fake news.” I don’t listen to fake news. As a journalist, as a writer and as a Christian, I am only concerned with one thing – the truth.
And the truth is I could very well defend the president on things such as the economy, free trade and “securing the borders”. However, when it comes to defending the president’s very own words – I’ve got nothing.
I was taught to show compassion towards all, not just those who share the same ideas or beliefs. I was taught that name-calling is childish, and it achieves nothing.
The only thing that leads to true achievement is doing the right thing, even when the right thing is the hardest to do. So come election time, take heed the words of our 35th president.
“Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer, but the right answer.” – John F. Kennedy
Rick Curiel is the editor of the Dinuba Sentinel. He can be reached at editor@thedinubasentinel.com
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