All the hype about universal health care is going overboard. Let’s have the government take over health care, oil companies, energy companies, farms and any other group making money. Let’s kill all free enterprises that make money and turn them over to a government that thinks the right thing to do is take from the ones who have and give to the ones who don’t.

The cause of all the problems now? Free health care, free food, free transportation and anything else to a group that can’t afford or doesn’t want to pay. When does a capitalist U.S.A. become a socialist U.S.A.?

Bill Allen, Blue Springs

Home-school arguments

Much of the recent argument against standardized testing of home-schooled children appears to take two forms: (1) home schooling works fine, so don’t mess with it, and (2) home-school parents will be forced to modify their teaching so their children will be better prepared for such tests.

If the first argument is correct, home-school proponents should offer hard data about success rates instead of anecdotal testimony. On the other hand, logic and experience indicate that some home-schooled kids are going to fall through the cracks for the simple reasons that some parents are unable, unprepared, or unwilling to educate them properly.

The second argument is unconvincing because if education is compulsory by state law, the state is also responsible for setting basic guidelines for subject matter as well as standards for performance.

Many home-school advocates fear standardized testing because they want to teach subjects that would not be covered by testing, such as creationism and the merits of opposite vs. same-sex marriage. Ron Zimmer (letters, Feb. 15) is right — knowledge of such subjects is unlikely to score points on standardized assessments, so his students would have to learn real science instead.

Norman D. Smith, Denton

Unfair attacks

Regarding “Nader says he’s entering election” (LJS, Feb. 25):

To anyone who cares about the state of electoral politics in this country, it should be more than a little worrying that a candidate would be attacked not for his policies or positions, but simply for running a legitimate campaign for public office.

Unlike the other presidential contenders, Republican and Democrat, whose words have to be analyzed and deconstructed to determine what it is they’re really saying, it seems Ralph Nader is the only one speaking to the concerns of ordinary Americans in clear and direct terms.

If voters are serious about wanting to end the inordinate influence of big money and special interests in government and restore it to people like you and me, they should listen to the candidates themselves rather than go by the labels the media and their opponents attach to them.

In case everyone forgot, this is a democracy, and anyone who is legally able to run for president — or any public office — has a right to do so.

Eric T. Foster, Lincoln

True Americans

I am a proud American. I fought for my country in World War II. Franklin D. Roosevelt was like a father to me.

I have always stood at attention with my right hand over my heart when I faced our Stars and Stripes. We all should feel that anyone who doesn’t show love and respect for our flag is not a true American.

If we are true Americans, we will vote for those who were born to mothers and fathers who were both Americans.

How can true Americans back a person whose father is a Muslim and who has a Muslim name, Barack Obama? How many Americans have lost loved ones killed by Muslims?

Donald W. Hunt, Lincoln