A republic, if you can keep it

A republic, if you can keep it

EDITOR:

A letter last Sunday said (of the declining use of “merry Christmas”): “It doesn’t sound very American or democratic to me. Doesn’t the majority still rule in America?”

Her answer lies in the Pledge of Allegiance, with the words, “to the republic for which it stands.” America is not, has never been and will never be a democracy. Thankfully, we are a nation of individual freedom, not majority rule. A nation with a Bill of Rights.

In a country ruled by the majority, Colin, Condoleezza, Oprah and Obama would still be in the back of the bus. America is the land of opportunity for everyone, not just the majority.

DON JOHNSON

Hubbard

The many shades of ‘peace’

EDITOR:

“Peace on Earth.” It’s a phrase that rolls off our tongue this time of year as easily as “merry Christmas” or “happy holidays.” and then we dismiss its meaning.

We find that the prospect of peace, of itself, does not provide great incentive and excitement to promote it to the general public. So we amend our desire for peace by adding it to phrases of patriotic and zealous drive. Today we hear of “peace with honor” or “peace with justice.” And these phrases mean that “honor” and “justice” are now the players on the field while “peace” is on the bench ... still on the team, but not an active player.

Let me translate some of the two-part phrases of “peace”:

Peace with honor ... means war

Peace with justice ... means revenge.

Peace with security ... means the loss of basic human rights.

Peace with satisfaction ... means we can kill our enemies.

Peace with prosperity ... means we can exploit other people.

It would seem that peace will only truly exist in a two-part system when it is the major player, when peace is on the playing field and honor, justice and security are on the bench. This is not an easy game plan. This is not an easy message to promote. We have, in human history, only a handful of peacemakers.

And what about these peacemakers? Are they blessed? Or are they forgotten this time of year? Even if we forget the names of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa or Albert Schweitzer, do we remember their message? Do we remember that Christmas means a mass for Christ?

The lives of the peacemakers may be too extreme for us to emulate, but that is no reason to forget the message. Eleanor Roosevelt once said that perhaps it was asking too much for us to forgive our enemies, but it was not asking too much to ask that we be courteous to them.

Peace requires work. Peace requires a desire by those involved that it is beneficial in its own right. Honor, justice, security, satisfaction and prosperity can take place in a peaceful setting.

We have a Department of War and Defense. It would be nice if we had a Department of Peace. It would be nice if we could all say to ourselves, “Let there be peace on Earth, and let it begin with me.”

DON BUTLER

Warren

Lawsuits serve a purpose

EDITOR:

A Dec. 2 letter inadvertently mischaracterizes the important work done by medical malpractice attorneys in defending the rights of patients injured by medical negligence to obtain a full and fair remedy under law.

Strong medical malpractice laws boost the quality of health care available to Ohioans by remedying medically negligent actions that would otherwise define the quality of acceptable health care downward.

Likewise, state medical licensure is intrinsically more valuable in a high medical-accountability state with strong medical malpractice laws than in a low medical-accountability state. That’s particularly important to understand because the 19th century idea of restrictive medical licensure is to swap access to health care (pharmacists, midwives, apprenticeship-trained practitioners) for the quality of health care believed to be best available through academically trained physicians. Does anyone seriously believe that diminishing the accountability of a monopoly created by state licensure would increase the quality of health care provided by that monopoly?

I served on a medical malpractice mock jury in 2000 in which mine was the sole vote favoring the physicians charged with medical negligence. As in the case noted in the recent letter, the patient died of a dissecting aneurysm, a fairly rare cause of death. The expert witnesses for the plaintiff and defendants were medical doctors, at least one of whom worked in the same specialty as the defendants. I followed the actual trial, in which I didn’t participate, and the newspaper accounts made no mention of any challenge to the motives or credentials of any of the expert witnesses.

JACK LABUSCH

Niles

Beeghly will be missed

EDITOR:

They say change is inevitable. In our lifetime we often face change. That doesn’t mean we have to like it. Change comes quickly or sometimes we have fair warning. We have to make adjustments in our lives for those changes, which sometimes are not so easy.

One very large change is here now. That is the sale of Beeghly Emergency and the Women and Infants Pavilion. These places will cease to exist this month. As the year closes, so do our doors forever. Some of us move on to other places of employment, and some no longer will have jobs. Familiar faces and daily routines will fade. We were very happy here and comfortable in our departments. We took excellent care of the patients, through pleasant times and rough times.

As one door closes, another door opens. Along with new opportunities and hopes for a new medical facility, one specifically for children. We wish them well, and as for us, we sadly move on, leaving behind our work home of 10-plus years.

Good-bye, Beeghly. We will miss you.

LOUISE A. MARTIN

Lowellville

If you believe this is good ...

EDITOR:

Regarding the sale of Beeghly Medical Park, I would like to thank Dr. Ghezzi, Forum Health, and Marc Dann for continuing the Youngstown tradition, which is telling the public what they want them to think.

We’re told the sale of Beeghly is a good thing for the community. It is only good for those getting their pockets lined.

Pediatric services are needed for this area, but there is plenty of land/space available to create such a complex. Displacing so many people in order to take over Beeghly was not the answer.

When many people are searching for employment in an already depressed area and hundreds of adults are waiting hours in presently over-crowded emergency departments, please remind us how the selling of Beeghly Medical Park was a good thing for this community.

JAIME JUGENHEIMER

Boardman

Let’s roll the dice

EDITOR:

The word is, Ohio Atty. Gen. Marc Dann is warming up to the idea of casino development in Ohio.

An initiative is underway to develop a casino in Southwest Ohio. Mahoning Valley casino supporters should contact Dann and their state reps, advising them to include our Valley in this initiative.

There are casinos that would come to this area. Industry has left, population is declining, property is devalued and even he media is beginning to dissolve (WYTV). Let’s stop the bleeding.

PAT MACKONDY

Youngstown