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JUST SAY MINE

During the Reagan years, Nancy Reagan started an anti-drug campaign, "Just Say No." It appears that Republican leadership has once again determined such a campaign will be effective.  It might be for them, but not for our country.

The original Just Say No campaign is still around.  Go by a school during drug awareness week and signs are still displayed.  Has it been effective? Drug usage has changed little; an overwhelming percentage of prisoners are incarcerated at great public expense for drug-related crimes.  Instead of helping eliminate problems, such campaigns only demonize those afflicted.  It is a selfish, arrogant stance that is cruel and demeaning.

Republicans and conservatives don't realize that people matter.  One gets an impression that they believe they are inherently entitled to privileges like health care, lower taxes and high paid positions at our expense, while the rest are not! CEOs, money managers, lobbyists and many politicians may believe that they are entitled to big benefits because they have big responsibilities.  Nurses and care-givers that save your life, or teachers who teach your children or police and firefighters who come to your aid in an emergency matter just as much as they do.  Don't others deserve their respect and shouldn't others be entitled to the same basic privileges and benefits they receive?

You and I, each and every one of us, matter.  If we are to coexist, all of us need to learn others matter just as much as we do.  Just saying no says the opposite; it says I matter and you should pay for my privileges.  That is not politically smart; it is un-American, and most of all it is down-right immoral.

Richard Rowland, Deltona