Gov. Paul LePage recently compared the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the mandatory health insurance provision in Obama’s health care legislation to the “new Gestapo — the IRS.”

LePage’s Gestapo comment may be accurate in reference to his bullying approach.

As the son of Nazi Holocaust survivors, I have learned about Nazi intimidating tactics.

Upon fleeing Germany in 1939, my father wrote, “Fascist bureaucracy is the organization of legal crimes where evil acts are not supposed to appear to have been done. The crimes act as the instrument of bureaucracy, an administration that had once been part of a civilized, humane nation. Now in an irrational way, crime and humanity function as one and the same.”

Referring to contemporary society, my father’s interpretation suggests protecting the hard-working middle and upper classes to eliminate governmental care for the poor and the needy. They are the scourges of our country, as the Nazis saw Communists and Jews, among others, as the blight of Germany.

It seems that LePage’s tactics unwittingly reflect this trend. In his case, they represent an irresponsible government/corporate partnership based on greed.

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LePage fails to understand that one of government’s responsibilities is to protect society as a whole.

Government-supported health care has become a necessity so that insurance companies cannot to continue to abuse their power for profit at the expense of everyone, especially those with the greatest need.

There is a definite need for reforms to reduce government and corporate bureaucracies, to encourage people to take responsibility versus holding them accountable to ever more new rules and policies.

Such methods of control are harmful, causing people to adhere without questioning or thinking and, therefore, free of any responsibility.

It is in our hands not to cower to legislators and employers who demand accountability versus responsibility.

David O. Solmitz

Waterville


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