I don’t know where Jennie Knapp gets her history (sounds like it might be from Ken Burns documentaries), but she needs to study more.

Knapp apparently thinks that Progressives created the National Park System. But the National Park System was established under a Republican president, Ulysses S. Grant, and doubled in size by another Republican president, Theodore Roosevelt. Knapp apparently thinks that Progressives were the champions of civil rights. But look at the vote breakdown by party on the Civil Rights Act of 1964. On the original House vote, Republicans voted 80 percent yes, and Democrats 61 percent. On the original Senate version, Republicans voted 82 percent yes, and Democrats 69 percent. On final passage of the Senate version in the House, Republicans voted 80 percent yes, and Democrats just 63 percent.

Likewise, if you look at the vote breakdown by party on the Voting Rights Act of 1965, in the original House vote, Republicans voted 94 percent yes, Democrats 73 percent. In the Senate, Republicans 82 percent yes, Democrats 78 percent. On final passage of the conference report, House Republicans voted 85 percent yes, Democrats 80 percent, and Senate Republicans voted 97 percent yes, Democrats 74 percent.

Which party was it that led on passage of our nation’s fundamental civil rights legislation? On every one of the key votes, the Party of Lincoln voted yes in greater percentages than the Democrats.

When it comes to Medicare, however, I’ll certainly let Progressives take the credit. In its first year, Medicare cost $3 billion, and was projected to cost $12 billion by 1990. The actual cost in 1990 was $107 billion. By 2004, the estimated unfunded liability of Medicare (the difference between projected Medicare tax revenue and benefits promised) was over $60 trillion. Medicare alone was projected to consume more than 51 percent of all Federal taxes by 2042, and 100 percent of the Federal budget by 2082.

Estimated Medicare unfunded liability is now over $89 trillion. That’s $289,000 for every man, woman, and child in the country. It is either inter-generational theft, or a promise that can’t help but be broken – or both.

We can expect a similar outcome from the universal health care program Progressives are trying to foist on us now. Yes, they can certainly take credit for that.

Toby Nixon, Kirkland