By Margaret C. Hemenway, Alexandria
(File Photo) 

To the editor:

With a deal struck to reopen the government and push the debt ceiling fight to next year, I feel compelled to respond to the confused comments by the Alexandria Times publisher in “A senseless shutdown (October 3).” While I agree with Denise Dunbar on the courage of former President Ronald Reagan to demand Mikhail Gorbachev “tear down this wall,” I am reminded that the left-leaning media — which has become far more liberal and monolithic in its views since the Cold War era — tried to defeat Reagan’s election with dishonest personal attacks, claiming that he was a reckless cowboy with a shaky trigger finger who might blow up the world with nuclear weapons.

Similarly, Dunbar’s critique of the highly accomplished, Ivy League-educated Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) “buffoonish” is just as unjustified as those early attacks on a now beloved and respected Reagan.

First, Dunbar doesn’t appear to understand that the United States is facing a worsening fiscal crisis — only added to by the enormously costly Obamacare — with ever-mounting national debt or that the debt ceiling is just a symptom of the bigger problem (overspending). I don’t know of any problem that can be tackled by addressing a symptom rather than root causes.

But Dunbar also shows a poor understanding of how things work in Washington. She implies Obamacare is settled law because of a Supreme Court decision. Any law can be repealed.

Finally, Obamacare is a fiasco. This is self-evident by the failure of its debut. Americans are being forced into exchanges that aren’t ready for primetime and told their current insurance isn’t in conformance with Obamacare. Workers are seeing their wages shrink by being forced into part-time jobs to avoid compliance with Obamacare.

This, along with skyrocketing premiums, is the inevitable and predictable fallout from a federal government takeover, which President Barack Obama lied about when he told voters that his signature legislative achievement would make health care more affordable while reassuring people that they could keep their insurance.

Obamacare was marketed on a foundation of lies. Anyone with an iota of common sense ought to know that hiring thousands of IRS agents and Obamacare “navigators” is not going to improve health care.

Why does Dunbar defend this train wreck? Does she lack compassion for people trying to support families on part-time wages while juggling escalating health insurance premiums?

Sen. Cruz simply highlighted the problem in a dramatic way, as is the custom and tradition of the U.S. Senate. Please don’t shoot the messenger.