letters

PRESIDENTIAL DEBATES

Gingrich has it right

I don't often agree with Newt Gingrich, but he called it right in his Aug. 27 Opinion Exchange column. He wants real debates, not staged events. He wants debates where candidates face off, one on one, on real issues -- issues that matter to people, like health care, education, Iraq and the environment.

People don't watch the fake events anymore. Those who do come away with fake news.

It is time to dump the old formats and get rid of the scripts.

GENNA ANDERSON, ST. PAUL

A fresh approach

The idea proposed by Newt Gingrich is fresh and innovative. The thought of our political machine having to develop answers with meaning and depth is new. The "Nine Nineties in Nine" would bring back legitimacy to the democratic process we have today.

Perhaps in future elections this concept can replace the blasphemous ads that run on our television sets.

I hope the concept and format proposed by Gingrich materializes and is free of outside influence. It is a step in the right direction to move politics away from the "Manchurian candidates" and toward a more grass-roots campaign of political stumping.

CHRIS LUND, HAMBURG

health care

Take up moral test

The latest government figures are out: 47 million Americans without health insurance, nearly one-sixth of the country. These are our fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, friends and neighbors who can't afford the basic coverage that many of us take for granted.

The current HMO system is failing them, and it is time for our elected officials to do something. This is a situation that can be resolved, but it requires real solutions and bipartisan cooperation.

Imagine the population of Minnesota, now multiply it by 15. Hubert Humphrey once said, "... the moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; and those who are in the shadows of life -- the sick, the needy and the handicapped."

It is time for our government to take up that moral test.

NATHAN COULTER, BLOOMINGTON