Debate over Young's Sanders column

Cathy Young’s column “The disaster of a Sanders nomination” [Opinion, Feb. 13] was quite an eye-opener. I have never been a fan of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ policies, but I had not been aware of his dancing with the Soviets. One advantage of a campaign against President Donald Trump: Russian President Vladimir Putin wouldn’t know who would favor him more, so he might butt out.

Carl Grasso,

Huntington 

I’m appalled by the scare tactics used by Cathy Young to disparage Sen. Bernie Sanders. Sounding like old McCarthyism, Young dug anything she feels is dirt about a compassionate, consistently progressive candidate whose ideas have been supported by many current Democrats.

Any progress accomplished by this country has been done by those with vision. From the Founding Fathers to the abolitionists to the suffragists to civil rights workers to gay rights activists, they make a more compassionate, healthy and economically stable country for us all.

And Sanders has acknowledged he cannot do this alone and has respect for the Constitution and the separation of powers — the opposite of the type of society that Young claims he would promote.

Judi Gardner,

Huntington

Cathy Young’s column is nothing but modern-day red-baiting and subtle soft-core McCarthyism. Young, who writes for conservative outlets such as Reason and The Federalist, portrays Sanders’ support for universal health care, infrastructure improvements, and an anti-imperialist foreign policy as something only dictatorial regimes of the past would favor. But Young is entirely mistaken in her assumptions.

Policies like Medicare for All, an end to unnecessary wars and foreign interventions, and shifting our transportation and energy infrastructure away from fossil fuel to fight climate change are all policies that are supported by a majority of Americans. Young merely invokes Cold War-era talking points and commentary to brand Sanders as unelectable. This is also untrue.

A recent Vox.com article shows Sanders outpolling Trump by considerable margins, even when voters are reminded that Sanders is a self-described Democratic Socialist. Moreover, younger voters (ages 18-35), who may form the largest voting demographic in this 2020 election, are not persuaded by such platitudinal anti-Communist rhetoric. Young’s implied suggestion to nominate a centrist against President Donald Trump would likely backfire for Democrats in November.

Matthew Heidtmann,

Rocky Point

NUMC deserves funding and a tax line

Newsday has published several articles on the future of Nassau University Medical Center, its staffing and patronage issues as well as its serious financial straits [“Finances of hospital taken over,” News, Feb. 5]. It was most gratifying to see a serious effort to eliminate the tradition of using NUMC as a patronage dumping ground for overpaid individuals who had absolutely no experience in hospital administration.

The most significant legacy that haunts NUMC is its debt. When Nassau County spun off NUMC as a public benefit corporation, it also refinanced the hospital and left it with a $70 million debt. NUMC never recovered from that dubious start and has had to consistently grovel, hat in hand, in Mineola for funding to stay afloat.

It’s time to reconsider funding and give the hospital a separate tax line on the property tax bill. Nassau Community College has a sliver of the property taxes, which provide more than $40 million to support itself. NUMC served 80,000 emergency room patients and handled 170,000 admissions last year, a greater number than the students who attend NCC. It’s time to level the playing field and assure NUMC a greater degree of financial stability with a similar tax line.

James P. Kelly,

Huntington

Editor’s note: The writer is an adjunct professor of political science at St. Joseph’s College in Patchogue.

Seasonal flu a bigger U.S. concern

Reports on the coronavirus arrive daily, and a dozen or so Americans are infected in our country and one American died in Wuhan. [“First U.S. death in China from virus,” News, Feb. 9] But what about alerting the public to get a flu vaccine? The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that at least 12,000 Americans have died from the flu this season.

To me, there is no reason every American isn’t vaccinated. The flu is a more severe pandemic than the coronavirus.

Wayne Mortak,

West Babylon