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This July 4th, we celebrate our nation’s 250th birthday. So, I have been thinking about patriotism. Everyone I meet tells me they are patriots, and I have no reason to doubt them. Patriotism seems to be a general term everyone defines for themself. This is what I know, when I joined the military to defend this country from all enemies foreign and domestic, I swore an oath to the Constitution, not to an individual or to a political party. So, it seems to me that patriotism is aspiring to the ideals and principles laid out in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. “That all men are created equal,” and that “We the people” establish the government to create a more perfect union, to “establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity.” Therefore, patriotism is actively trying to create that more perfect union, recognizing flaws and working to remedy them. It recognizes the need for criticism and oversight. It promotes a cohesive and inclusive society where everyone is valued.
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that 11.8 million will lose health coverage under the legislation Republicans are proposing. The Fiscal Policy Institute issued a report on June 28, 2025, detailing how the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB) will affect hospitals in New York. According to hospital financial data 45 percent of hospitals receive a quarter of their net patient revenue from Medicaid and other government appropriations. The cuts in the OBBB will severely threaten hospitals throughout the State. In Congressional District 23 (Rep. Nick Langworthy) 8 of the 12 hospitals receive more than 25 percent of revenue from Medicaid; and in District 21 (Rep. Elise Stefanik) 8 of 16 are threatened. In Claudia Tenney’s district, 5 hospitals are threatened.
Republican legislators are abandoning their responsibilities to serve their constituents and slavishly serve their party leader.
William Fine
Brockport
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Unconscionable attack on humanity!
I totally agree ! Also, almost half of all children in the US get their healthcare covered by Medicaid!…of course, they can’t vote or have a voice. The congressional GOP is anything but patriotic. They’ve all become cult members, uttering doublespeak platitudes to patriotism and then voting the opposite way. There are no profiles in courage anymore.
I agree Mr. Fine, and you cite credible official data to support your article. However, this is just part of an extreme agenda that is interconnected and tied together by other beliefs. It’s over forty years of it is their own fault they cannot afford health care and redistribute taxes to the rich to reduce the deficit and the wealth will trickle down to 80% of the people. It is erasing the line between church and state in favor of white evangelical Christians and extreme Catholics, that the ruling majority claim to be. Their Jesus did not say feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, and take care of the immigrant/Samaritan/refugee. Jesus did not say the rich will get to heaven as easily as a camel goes thru the eye of a needle. It’s the Prosperity Gospel baby. Underneath it all the poor and middle-class working people will suffer, and we know who they hit the hardest. There are hundreds of thousands of white undocumented immigrants here, over 50,000 Irish alone. Let me know when you see them in Alligator Alcatraz or sent to Sudan.
Amen!!!