MIke Huckabee Letter to the Editor

After reading please check my Letter to the editor FAQ

On Friday November 16th 2007 in the Texas A&M newspaper The Battalion An article called 'A new approach to anti-smoking' by Travis Holland was published. It follows below:

Every day TV, magazine and radio ads warn Americans of the dangers of smoking
and urge us to eat healthy. Millions of tax dollars are wasted every week to
tell us what we already know - we're killing ourselves.

But this is old news. People know that smoking causes cancer and they still
smoke. People know they should eat less fatty foods, but McDonald's isn't having
trouble selling burgers. It's time for the government to take a new approach at
getting Americans to live better, instead of beating us across the head with
what we're doing wrong.

Arkansas has the right idea. On Nov. 8 the state unveiled a plan to provide
incentives for healthy living. This included things like extra days off for
physical activity, healthy eating and not using tobacco products.

This is a great plan that could help Americans be healthier and save our
country, millions if not billions, in healthcare and do away with unnecessary ad
campaigns.

If such a program were implemented nationwide and participation made
mandatory at private companies, the results would be overwhelming. Paid days off
would certainly be a more effective incentive to be healthier than a
commercial with some actor yelling at an office building through a megaphone.

The costs of giving employees a few extra days off would easily be offset by
the benefits. Healthier Americans means lower healthcare rates. Also, employees
who changed their lifestyles to be in the program would take less sick days
because of stronger bodies and immune systems.

One of the best parts of this program is that those who disagree with it
don't have to participate. If some people want to keep smoking cigarettes,
that's fine. They won't lose their right to smoke, they just won't get a bonus
for not smoking. The only mandatory aspect of the program would be that
companies had to offer it.

Some might complain that this program would place an undue burden on
companies, but that's not the case. A few vacation days in exchange for
healthier employees is a small sacrifice and the employees in the program would
be healthier on a daily basis, which means fewer trips to the doctor and less
expensive healthcare options.

The rest of the U.S. should keep a close eye on Arkansas and its healthy
lifestyle incentive program. If it is as big of a success as it seems like it
will be, the federal government should put some serious thought into
implementing a similar program nationwide.

- Travis Holland is a junior marketing major.

After reading this I saw a great opportunity to inform the 50,000 Students and Faculty about Mike Huckabee and his policies on health care. I did research and after a couple of hours had perfected my letter to the editor (Mail Call as it known in Aggieland). It follows below:

Travis Holland's column on Friday, "A new approach to anti-smoking," praised
Arkansas' inventive approach to health care. Put simply, it states, why
spend billions of dollars on the catastrophically ill when you can spend a
fraction of that cost on preventative options?

For The Battalion readers, a little history on the Healthy Arkansas plan. It
is the brain child of Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee. Huckabee
realized our health system was upside down. We do not have a health care crisis
we have a health crisis. Our health care system focuses on fixing the sick
rather than preventing sickness. Huckabee believes we should reward those that
are proactively healthy rather than focusing on sickness.

Government-run socialized medicine is not the answer but neither is employer-controlled insurance. You should own your insurance because, as Huckabee said, "I think the better idea is to turn [health care] over to each individual...I trust me a lot more than I trust the government or a lot more than I trust the insurance companies." The best way to fix our health crisis is to put the decision into the hand of Americans and reward them for making the correct one.

Clayton Mercer

Class of 2010

I hope you will send this around to your friends and you to will write a letter to the editor. I also want to include a link to the website of each article so you can go directly there and leave a comment on how strong a consevatvie Huckabee is.

First Article

Second Article

God Bless America and Pray for Mike Huckabee

Clayton Mercer