Using gambling to balance budget will harm people: Letters to the editor – GoErie.com

We hear that our wonderful elected officials recently suggested increased availability of gambling in the state to help balance the budget, and I wonder where are their minds. I remember my grandfather telling me years ago that when they had slot machines in clubs, people would go in when they got paid and lose their entire paycheck hoping to hit it big.

So I guess it is true that history repeats itself, and our elected officials should be charged with negligence in performing their duties to uphold the responsibilities of the state and further jeopardizing the welfare of the people who gamble, as these folks will never admit they have a gambling problem. Nobody wants to admit that the best way for politicians to approach a deficit is to spend less or increase taxes that are nondiscriminatory and everybody pays their fair share. It is easier to blindly approve expanded gambling as you dont see those hurt by this decision and dont have to listen to the people you represent. You do not have skin in the game!

You dont see the people who will spend hours in clubs and other organizations and will most likely go home with nothing, reminiscent of the words spoken by my grandfather. Politicians dont want to charge a tax, as that would be political suicide. They would rather let you hang yourself on your own so they can say it is not our fault you cant control your gambling. They collect a decent paycheck and pension, much better than probably 80 percent of the people in Pennsylvania.

We need to replace politicians with the folks who work a blue-collar job without regard as to whether you are a Democrat or Republican, as that is what started this mess years ago. We need to understand that all need to pay their fair share, even those on public assistance. We need to increase the state sales tax to 7 percent and include clothes. We also need to increase the tax by another 5 percent on alcohol, tobacco and drinks high in sugar as these are directly related to increased health care costs later in life, which are going to cost the working public more to support government programs and be the downfall of Medicare and Medicaid.

Joe McGill, Erie

Billionaires have usurped

branches of government

I can still recall the intense pride and feelings of esprit de corps I experienced serving with my fellow Americans red, brown, black, yellow and white in the common cause of survival.

We stood together, side by side, to face the challenges to our very existence. Unified in the face of every threat, we survived for and died for each other. In unity we prevailed. Not just as Americans, but as brothers.

Now the threat before us is from within. An attack on the core values of the nation so many have died to protect and defend throughout history grows by the minute.

The executive and legislative branches of our government have been usurped by billionaire capitalists who hold loyalty only to profit and privilege, bent on destroying the unity of purpose that actually made us the United States of America.

Stand against this cash-powered coup intent on depriving all citizens of their constitutional birthright, the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

This government of the people, by the people, for the people has enabled the construction of this wondrously unique experiment in democracy and personal freedom that has nurtured all for two and a quarter centuries.

Do not let lies, high volume, pervasive propaganda and spin doctors divide and conquer that which so many patriots have given their all to preserve, the United States of America.

M. Maxon, Erie

Repealing ACA would hurt

fight against opioid crisis

The defeat of the Affordable Care Act repeal was a win in Pennsylvanias fledgling fight against the opioid epidemic. At the neighborhood clinic where I serve as a nurse practitioner, my patients rely on their health insurance to cover the tens of thousands of dollars in costs for opioid addiction treatment, including prescriber visits, counseling and medication.

Because of the Medicaid expansion, and the essential health benefits that guarantee addiction services are included under the ACA, about 3 million more Americans with substance abuse issues now have insurance coverage. If the ACA is repealed, these folks would lose their coverage and $5.5 billion annually would be cut from opioid addiction services.

Washington politicians such as Sen. Pat Toomey should be fighting to help prevent the deaths of the 13 Pennsylvanians who perish each day from drug overdoses, instead of trying to give their health care funding away to millionaires and pharmaceutical and health insurance companies.

Tarik S. Khan, Philadelphia

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Using gambling to balance budget will harm people: Letters to the editor - GoErie.com