Don’t be quick to judge people who need Medicaid

The writer is responding to two letters in the Jan. 19 paper, “Expanding Medicaid would cost taxpayers either way,” and “Recipients should earn it.”

I do not think of Pat McCrory as a demon for not expanding Medicaid, but he made a huge mistake.

When you filed for Obamacare the first year, unless you earned a certain amount of money, it would kick you back to Medicaid. In states such as North Carolina that did not expand Medicaid, that application then would be kicked out, too. So the very people that needed medical help, prescriptions and dental care were still shut out.

Back in the ’50s, people had much larger families to help farm, etc. There was little welfare or nursing-home care. People took care of their own. Lots of mothers did not have an outside job, so they helped raise the children and look after the elderly.

Today’s world is so different. Many families have struggled and are still struggling since the cotton mills closed down. It didn’t affect just the breadwinner; it affected entire families.

These were and still are good people. They worked hard all their lives just to have a little something. Lots of these people were in their late 50s — too old to get another good job. They were hard workers and God-fearing Christians.

So, I would not be so quick to judge people that have needed public assistance to get back on their feet.

Let’s not forget about disabled people. They too have a family to care for, and the average disability hearing is two years down the road. It’s pitiful because these people have worked, paid into the system and have tried to have a little something. By the time their hearing has arrived, they are indigent.

Bad things happen to good people. I would not be so quick to judge.

I do hope Donald Trump can make a big difference for the USA!

— Gwen Johnson

China Grove

Can Trump restrain himself?

This is to express my concern about certain characteristics of our newly installed president. He seens unable to cope with any suggestion that he is less than omnipotent. He cannot cope with the fact that he lost the popular vote in the recent election, instead claiming that several million fraudulent votes were cast by illegal aliens.

He also cannot accept the fact that the crowd at his inauguration was smaller than that at other recent presidential inaugurations.

He rails against the media, claiming that they are biased against him and that they distort the facts.

Webster’s Dictionary defines paranoia as   “1. A psychosis characterized by systematized delusions of persecution or grandeur. 2. A tendency on the part of an individual or group toward excessive or irrational suspiciousness and distrustfulness of others.”

The dictionary defines megalomania as “1. A mania for great or grandiose performance. 2. A delusional mental disorder that is marked by feelings of personal omnipotence and grandeur.”

In conclusion, I hope that our president will be able to restrain such tendencies and achieve a presidency which is successful for him and the United States of America. 

— Richard Soderberg

Salisbury