Letter to the editor

Local lords? Editor, The Sun: "Let them eat cake." The quotation is often attributed to French Queen Marie Antoinette upon learning her subjects were suffering due to widespread bread shortages. The anecdote sought to demonstrate the obliviousness and selfishness of the French upper class in the mid-1800s. Ironically, 170 years later in a town named after the great French City of Versailles, we are experiencing our own version. Our landed gentry has issued a similar decree by filing two lawsuits to attempt to deny the peasants better health care as well as denying the serfs a means to better their agricultural subsistence. In the modern day version, we've replaced the feudal lords with Thoroughbred millionaires who put their self-interest above the needs of the peasants, otherwise known as average people who think getting a new hospital might just improve their quality of life. The feudal lords are never going to lower themselves to use a medical facility in Woodford County; thus, we don't need anything other than the existing 100-year-old hospital building. The feudal lords equally reject the idea of creating an agricultural industrial complex that might actually attract industries that could sustain the family farm. If the serfs can actually make a living on the farm, then how can the feudal lords buy their land on the cheap and expand their kingdoms? The French Revolution didn't end well for the landed gentry, as the citizenry revolted and brought about far reaching social change. Maybe history will repeat itself. John Soper Versailles (Editor's note: While Mr. Soper is chairman of the Woodford County Economic Development Authority, he submitted this letter strictly as a private citizen.)