Govt. is the problem, not the answer, to nation's ills

CORVALLIS GAZETTE-TIMES/LETTERS, 10/22/2009 by Jeff Limón - I can see from Rich Bergeman's Oct. 16 letter "GOP puts party before country and ends up hurting both" that Mr. Bergeman has a great respect for the truth, because he uses it so sparingly. It is true that George Bush was not a champion of limiting the powers of government to those strictly specified in the Constitution. Further, Republicans were unhappy with the Bush bailouts, which, with unemployment still hovering around 10 percent one year later, have failed to end this recession. ∴ But as far as truth goes, that's about it. ∴ The notion that the Republican Party hates America is absolutely preposterous. The bottom line is that we believe increasing freedom and liberty help all Americans, and that government intrusion is never the answer, it's the problem. For example, we oppose government involvement in health care because we believe that such a system will be about as compassionate as the IRS and will have the efficiency of the Post Office.

One only need look as far as Canada, where the average wait time for the 12 most popular specialties is 18 weeks (four months), to see just how bad things can get. Government involvement in the British health care system, where a dentist may spend a whole 5 minutes on a yearly teeth cleaning, and anesthesia is almost non-existent, the dental care industry has been ruined.

The idea that free-markets, personal liberties, and a government that serves you instead of demanding your obedience are harmful America, is simply rubbish.

Jeff Limon, Corvallis