In response to a recent rather vituperative letter to the editor whining about President Barack Obama’s change that everybody is looking for, I invite your attention to a few points: No one has determined that the health care law passed is unconstitutional; some (conservatives) feel it is an infringement on their right to stamp out the Golden Rule but the courts have not determined it to be unconstitutional. No one can list a car company, an insurance company, a hospital, or a physician’s practice that the government has “taken over” (assumed 51 percent ownership in a company) because there isn’t one. The government has provided funds to bail out banks, auto companies and insurance companies, but that is not a takeover. So socialism has not prevailed. Regulation, yes; socialism and government takeover, no.

And who can refute that regulation is not necessary? If an industry is not regulated by somebody, it will run amok — witness the 2008 financial system collapse – which occurred due to, among other things, a systematic dismantling of regulation over eight to 10 years time that allowed the avarice of some to jeopardize the pocketbooks of all, well, all normal folks. The executives still got their golden parachutes and bonuses. The recent gulf oil leak is yet another example.

We must reduce government spending. Deficits do matter, Dick Cheney. We demand our president protect us from foreign terrorists; we demand services, privileges, good schools, cheap gas, etc., much provided by or subsidized by the government. But some of us don’t want to pay for these benefits of living in America. If the government is going to spend money, what more noble goal can a government have than to attempt to take care of its citizens at home and provide some measure of protection against the domestic terrorism of poverty, poor healths and the avarice of the predators of our pockets. The Golden Rule is still valid. Change did come to America in 2009. Thank goodness. It is still changing; I hope reason will prevail, rather than talking points. Now we must all tighten our belts for the good of all.

D. Rand Hillier

Poulsbo