Letter to the Editor: And the reason is?

Representative Dunwell has struck again and given us the reasons that our local hospital will no longer do deliveries; and once again our Representative is incorrect. The reason we will no longer have a hospital that will assist in the birth of new people is because there are not enough new people being produced. If you live in a world that is controlled by the market, you are required to live by the market.

Newton lost its local hospital when it was taken over by Mercy. There are vast sums of money being spent on healthcare in this country and hospitals are a major recipient of these funds. But again, these sums are dependent on the market. If you have no buyers, you have no product. When we, as a public, want to argue about whether the Republicans or the Democrats are to blame for our ills or are applauded for our benefits, it is the market that we have allowed to control our lives.

The Republicans didn’t decide to take away the OB-GYN from the Newton hospital; it wasn’t the Democrats who decided to take away the OB-GYN from the Newton hospital. The reason that Newton will no longer have OB-GYN is because there is no money in it. We, as a community, have allowed the market to determine the issue and we deserve what we get — unfortunately.

We all endure endless propaganda propagated by those in charge that we live in the best of all possible worlds and since we live in the best of all possible worlds, change is a horrible thought. Voltaire once discussed this in a story called Candide, but again history is a concept that has no meaning in our current educational system or in the minds of those who purport to make decisions. The market prevails and as long as we want to be controlled by the market, the market will be in control. We have allowed ourselves to lose control over our own lives by an economic system. We could still have a local hospital if the community and the city and county would have seen to it. But, it would have cost money that we either didn’t have or didn’t want to spend.

So let’s put the blame on who needs to be blamed — us. We as a community could have our own hospital if we had been willing to pay for it. Or, in the alternative, have had more babies. One or the other was necessary.

Richard E. H. Phelps II

Mingo