Letters: Best way to influence Congress is to tell them what you want
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To influence Congress,tell them what you want
My representative in the House of Representatives is Mark DeSaulnier. On Friday, I was able to attend his last virtual town hall for the year. During the meeting, I thanked him for his past support of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and asked whether he would again support full funding for the Global Fund ($4.6 billion over three years) and support language to prevent the administration from rescinding past or future money Congress appropriates for the fund. I was pleased to hear his emphatic yes to my question.
There are many ways constituents can influence politicians to better represent them in Congress. Some of the best are meeting with, calling and writing them to clearly express what programs and policies we want them to support. Politicians aren’t mind readers. We have to tell them what we want.
Jim DriggersConcord
Community can refuseto support coal terminal
Re: “Oakland surrenders in ‘coal war’ battle” (Page A1, Dec. 11).
If administrative and legal efforts to stop the construction of a coal terminal in Oakland fail, another remedy remains.
Typically, enthusiasm, hope, denial and amnesia combine with the rationale that building and running something like this terminal will boost employment. The project gets built however the owners want to build it. The “best case” never or only briefly materializes. Oakland gets what it didn’t want.
There is an alternative if, as a community, we are united against having this terminal and refuse to build it or to staff it. Don’t apply for the contracts to build it. Don’t apply to work there.
It takes discipline and self-control to leave money sitting on the table. If one’s values demand it be left there, it can be done.
Chris BrownOakland
At clinic level, ‘fraudand waste’ matter little
Re: “Root fraud and waste out of ACA program” (Page A6, Dec. 16).
Sadly, this letter from Danville illustrates an individual who likely lives in a bubble, in a community that doesn’t understand the distribution of health care in America. It’s a myopic opinion that blames the recipients of government-sponsored health care.
The current administration and its representatives in Congress take millions from Big Pharma and private health insurance. This is truly fraud and waste. It has done nothing to offer a plan, only a “concept.” The health of 20 million people means nothing to them except as political leverage, even for those they purport to represent.
As a family physician for 35 years, I have seen the benefits for individuals and their communities when they have access to health care. There is no fraud or waste at this level, just hard-working professionals in clinics and hospitals working selflessly to care for our neighbors — care we all deserve, regardless of status.
Scott LoeligerBenicia
Replacing addictionwith activity a good plan
Re: “Outrunning my addiction with ‘sober activity’” (Page A8, Dec. 21).
The article covers the author’s journey from alcoholism to a healthy lifestyle via running.
Judge Craig Mitchell, a Superior Court judge in Southern California, started the Skid Row Running Club after dispensing justice to many gang members and addicted homeless people. He has created an entire community of people who meet in the early mornings to run, introducing them to a healthy addiction in lieu of an unhealthy, destructive addiction.
One only needs to read the stories of members whose lives have changed for the better. The science of exercise is simple: It increases endorphins, the feel-good hormone. Beyond that, activity requires a commitment to a routine and discipline.
Millions have been spent trying to provide services for homelessness and addiction to little avail. To me, the lesson is: “Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.”
Zoe SimonsConcord