New From the Right columnist
Editor’s Note: Conservative opinion columnist Star Parker appears for the first time in today’s AJC. She replaces longtime columnist Thomas Sowell who, at age 86, has retired from column-writing. Parker is a nationally known conservative activist. According to her bio, “Parker is the founder and president of CURE, the Center for Urban Renewal and Education, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit think tank that promotes market-based public policy to fight poverty.” She has been a consistent critic of both President Barack Obama and progressive policies of liberal Democrats. Parker says many of her insights were gained from seven years spent, as her bio puts it, “in the grip of welfare dependency.” As always, we here at the AJC seek to offer a broad range of commentary from both conservative and liberal circles. Thanks for giving Ms. Parker a try, and for reading the AJC.
Andre Jackson, Editorial Editor
Don’t change Obamacare to We-don’t-care
In the end, it doesn’t matter to me if it’s Obama-care or Conserva-care as long as it isn’t We-don’t-care.
I won’t say that Obamacare is great, but it has made some things better for my family than they were before. It’s hard to say whether the ACA made anything more affordable, seeing as coverage costs have been inflating every year for as long as I can remember, but it definitely made insurance more available.
I fear that in the name of making “America great again” (though only they think it isn’t still) the hard right will try to dismantle every safety net in the name of abstract ideals like small government, laissez-faire economics, and personal responsibility. Going into my life’s homestretch, my observation is that all of these wind up being variations of “let the chips fall where they may,” which is to say We-don’t-care.
I believe a country should be more than a collection of selfish people individually scratching out survival as best they can. It should be a pact where we care enough about one another to build protections that benefit us all, even if it means spreading the wealth around a little bit. Personally, I can’t see any other way to be “great.”
ROBERT WOLFSON, MARIETTA
