Financial destruction

Our country is running toward financial destruction and going at warp speed. We will be outdone by debt. That is why we cannot pass the health-care-reform bill as it stands now -- it will be the straw that breaks us.

We definitely need health-care reform, I recognize that. But Washington is going the wrong way to accomplish this. We should go slow; one step at a time. And we should start with things that control cost, like tort reform and stopping fraud.

This country cannot allow apathy to ruin us. All must speak up, loud and clear. We cannot self-destruct.

KAY ANDERSON

Winston-Salem

Proud of this woman

I've never written to you before, but with all the criticism of Rep. Virginia Foxx, I felt compelled to do so.

I'm so proud of this woman for being so outspoken and standing up for what's right. She will go up against anyone if it's in the right.

There are so many people who really don't understand this health-care reform. This will be the worst thing that has ever happened to America. We have too much government control now. Those who want this health-care reform to pass, maybe they need to go live in communist China, then they will be told what to do and when to do it and leave the rest of us alone. They should at least find out the facts about this before shooting off at the mouth.

Foxx embarrasses no one but the ignorant. She protects the unborn and the seniors from "Obamacare." Foxx is truly a remarkable woman.

LINDA HADLEY

North Wilkesboro

Serving our country

Speaking of his son's death in Afghanistan, Gary Gooch Sr., the father of Spc. Gary L. Gooch Jr., was quoted as saying, "I know it is ugly over there, but we have to serve our country" ("Son, 22, killed while serving in Afghanistan," Nov. 17). Wouldn't it be wonderful if our elected officials in Washington felt the same and courageously put our country ahead of their own self interests?

REBECCA M. SHEPHERD

Winston-Salem

Contradictions

How do you know when ideology trumps reason? When you start contradicting the obvious. Case in point: In his Nov. 13 column, "Diversity: We're not allowed to speak the truth," Cal Thomas wrote: "Did diversity build and sustain America through world wars and economic challenges? No, it was a firm set of principles held by patriots of many races who were willing to pay the price in money and blood." So, it wasn't diversity that built and sustained our country, it was "patriots of many races"? Wouldn't "patriots of many races" be one definition of diversity?

Later in his column Thomas wrote, "(Diversity) seems to mean that no one can any longer speak the truth, or even seek it out ... " According to his own Web site, Thomas is "America's #1 nationally syndicated columnist." Plus, he writes for USA Today and regularly appears on Fox News Channel.

And he claims that someone is preventing him from speaking the truth? Come on. Far more people read Thomas' columns than will read this little letter of mine. And I'm not whining.

RICHARD GROVES

Winston-Salem

Specific freedoms

Conservatives have been going on for some time now about the freedoms that will be taken away from us if health-care reform passes, but they haven't been too specific about those freedoms. I figured out what some of them are, though:

The freedom to declare bankruptcy because of medical expenses.

The freedom to lose your home because of medical expenses.

The freedom to live your entire life in spirit-crushing debt.

The freedom to be denied health insurance because of some stupid technicality.

The freedom to see your children suffer because you can't afford health insurance.

The freedom to suffer, through no fault of your own, so that we can maintain a profitable health-insurance industry.

The freedom to let some health-insurance company bureaucrat hold your life and well-being, and that of your children, in his profit-seeking hands.

The freedom to be a third-world country, unlike the other industrialized nations, which have decent and affordable health care.

Yes, we must maintain these freedoms. They will all be lost if we pass the health-care reform bill. I'd like to thank the conservatives in this country for pointing out how important it is to maintain these freedoms.

WILLIAM B. PERRY

Winston-Salem