In response to comments made by Joe Vance in his column The Voice of Reason in Thursday's edition of The Post:
I don't particularly enjoy reading The Post or its opinion page these days so much as I enjoy responding to the pedestrian regurgitation proffered by the alleged editorial columnists in their attempts to make the public understand. I've been waiting for one of the columnists to stick their head in the lion's mouth. I have to say thank you to Joe Vance. I will, of course, be getting to him in a moment
He claims that liberals like to use the persuasive power of guilt to scare conservatives into helping them. It seems that guilt is an unacceptable political tool, yet the power of fear is perfectly tolerable. Conservatives often claim that if we follow liberal ideology, the terrorists will win. This is to say that anything other than full-throated support of right-wing conservatism and the totalitarian abdication of all legal authority to the Chief Executive is tantamount to being labeled an al-Qaeda sympathizer. By the way, being identified as a terrorist sympathizer is cause for extra-constitutional surveillance at the very least and, more seriously, detention (without legal finding of fact, charge or trial) for an indefinite period of time under the Patriot Act.
Let's move along to his denial of the right to health care. While it is true that the right to health care is not specifically outlined in the Constitution or adequately expressed in any federal legislation, I would suggest that the alternative be considered. Poor children face difficulty in nearly every facet of life almost from birth. Diminished immune capacity often combined with already impoverished living conditions dramatically increases a child's risk of contracting a communicable illness. When taking this into consideration with the close proximity of children in an already overburdened public education system, the likelihood of spreading illness increases. Additionally, lack of access to vaccinations, which are required to attend public school, also contribute to a greater chance of illness. It is the birthright of every child in this country to be given an education. Without education the cycle of poverty continues.
The health care system used by our federal employees and military is a socialized system. I and my family have all received exceptional medical, dental and vision care for many years under the system through the trials and tribulations of accident, illness, childbirth and surgical care. Socialized health care works and works well enough for the Executive, Legislative and Judicial Branches of our federal government.
Our illustrious columnist is correct that medical professionals are neither servants nor slaves and they should be compensated justly for the time and money expended in acquiring their skills. We should probably also consider merit and that the practice of medicine requires a high degree of self-sacrifice and a great deal of mental capacity, not to mention exceptional judgment and confidence. If this is a fair measure of how to pay our workforce, then our police officers, armed servicemen and women and teachers should be paid the same as doctors. I wonder where, with his marginal-at-best use of the English language, the editorial columnist falls on this pay-scale.
Jeremy Theobald is a sophomore political science and linguistics major.
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Letter to the Editor
