Letters to the Editor
Our readers express their thoughts about Vindman's town hall and moves to improve healthcare.
The Advance welcome’s readers to submit letters. Letters should be less than 500 words and submitted with your name and a phone number you can be reached at. The Advance reserves the right to edit letters for length and style.
Vindman’s First Town Hall
First, I am very grateful to Mr. Vindman for organizing and conducting the Town Hall. I understand it was the second one. This one was in person. The first was by Zoom.
Hearing from constituents by the elected officials is a hallmark of our democracy. It looked like to me there were about 1,000 people there. I was uplifted by people gathering to express their concerns which were across the board about a variety of issues.
I wrote to Mr. Vindman yesterday expressing my gratitude for the gathering. However, I told him that I was disappointed in what appeared to be a lack of passion by him regarding how he plans to continue to speak out against the policies and practices of the new administration.
He spoke about working with any Republican, which I applaud, who will on any given matter support helpful legislation for the 7th district. However, I told him I hope he will still call out when necessary any Republicans in the House of Representatives and the current president and vice president on their illegal, heartless, unfair and terrifying actions.
I commended him for his practicality. However, I strongly encouraged him to speak with passion for justice, compassion, inclusivity, and equity. I recommend it be longer next time at least two hours. He extended it for another half hour until 8:30 PM.
Brian Vaughan
Fredericksburg
Use the Power of Midterms to Improve Healthcare
I read Jay Brock’s commentary: To Attach Waste, Go After the Source, Not the Patient in today’s FXBG Advance with great interest. I am 77 years old and experience frustrations with our healthcare system. My complaints have nothing to do with the healthcare providers, they have everything to do with the cost of medicines and the healthcare insurance industry.
To reinforce Jay’s thesis, I recently saw articles explaining how President Trump raised $500 million in the period between his 2024 election and his 2025 inauguration. This outrageous sum accumulated through high-priced, exclusive meetings and fundraising events with business executives from the healthcare, pharmaceuticals, insurance, and technology industries.
These industries are buying protection and getting a great bargain. Remember Musk contributed to the Trump 2024 campaign between $250 million and $290 million. What did Musk get in return, the opportunity to become the shadow president and the probability that he will receive billions more in government contracts. Now, that is a great investment mathematically. As Jay points out in his article, the healthcare industry has been averaging profits of $25 billion per year since 2010. I suspect the profit margins will increase significantly. We will pay for those increases.
Jay suggests that upcoming mid-term elections are a great opportunity to move towards a better system. I agree. To make this happen, we need to educate our neighbors and local, state, and federal elected officials. That must start with us, the readers. Please share Jay’s article with your relatives and friends and take a pen to paper and write or call your various elected leaders.
Phil Huber
Fredericksburg
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