To the ramparts for Medicare

I am writing this letter to my senior friends who receive Medicare benefits, those who have been paying into Medicare, and children of parents who receive Medicare. Do not let any politician or person convince you that it is OK to drop our established Medicare for corporate vouchers. More realistically, don’t let them sneak critical legislation past you when you’re not looking.

Keep in mind that Washington’s own representatives Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Jaime Herrera Beutler, Dave Reichert and “Doc” Hastings are working hard to take our Medicare away. Additionally, they are slashing Medicaid and reducing aid to the disabled, the elderly and the very poor.

On April 15, three of them voted this way; Reichert was absent for the vote but left a favoring statement. This opposes a recent Washington Post/ABC poll where 78 percent of Americans want Medicare to stay.

As in other states, the same ruthless, irresponsible, pocket-padding politics is all too common and it needs to be stopped. I beg you to openly talk to your family and friends. Let them know that this kind of thinking is destroying what the last 75 years has advanced. Vote accordingly and deliberately.

Brian Shute

Spokane