Selected Letters to the Editor from Sunday Newspapers:
New York Times
To the Editor:
Bill Bradley describes the institutional advantages that Republicans have over Democrats. But he does not identify the institutional base that served the Democrats well when they were in the majority: labor unions.
The decline of organized labor was an essential ingredient in the decline of the Democrats, and until the party finds a way to help labor rebuild, or discovers a functional substitute, it will continue to be out-strategized by the G.O.P.
Howard L. Reiter
Storrs, Conn., March 30, 2005
The writer is chairman of the department of political science at the University of Connecticut.
More after the break
New York Times
The G.O.P. Takes a Hard-Right Turn (2 Letters)
To the Editor:
"In the Name of Politics," by John C. Danforth (Op-Ed, March 30), was a candle in the darkness.
There are many in this country who have been alarmed by the influence that conservative Christians have with the Bush administration, as well as by the seemingly steady erosion of the separation of church and state, a cornerstone of liberty in our country.
Mr. Danforth's Republican credentials are impeccable. He was a conservative voice in the Senate and an able representative at the United Nations. He is also an Episcopal minister.
It is refreshing, therefore, to read his staunch defense of stem cell research, and his concern that his party's longtime agenda of limited government and lower deficits has become secondary to the agenda of the Christian conservatives.
If there are more Republicans out there who agree with Senator Danforth, let their voices be heard now.
Philip Birnbaum
Brooklyn, March 30, 2005
*
To the Editor:
I'll be voting for Democrats from now on. The Democrats now stand for fiscal responsibility, limited government interference in our private lives, separation of church and state, and business policies that help all Americans.
I share John C. Danforth's concerns. As a Christian, I'm fed up with the hard-right Christian conservative agenda that is taking this country away from its tremendous past.
In the past, America was the moral leader of the world.
Now we look for ways around the Geneva Conventions so we can torture prisoners legally. It is disgusting.
Kyle Cole
Atlanta, March 30, 2005
Wash. Post
The refusal of some pharmacists to fill birth control prescriptions for unmarried women raises an interesting question: Do these same pharmacists also refuse to fill prescriptions for Viagra and other such products when presented by unmarried men?
Is the next step to put condoms back behind the counter and refuse to sell them to unmarried persons?
JOHN VANDERSTAR
Arlington
The writer is a member of the council of governors of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice.
L.A. Times
Re "U.S. Spy Efforts Face a New Round of Criticism," March 28: It is humanly possible to make the mistake of misreading intelligence information regarding weapons of mass destruction.
What is absolutely not right is that in the process of that mistake you kill tens of thousands of people who had nothing to do with WMD. That you detain without trial many thousands of individuals who had nothing to do with WMD. That you torture and denigrate many hundreds and that you kill while in custody many dozens who also had nothing to do with WMD.
That is a war crime, not a mistake.
Pablo Behrens
London
We have a report on the shortcomings of U.S. intelligence that claims the American intelligence community provided faulty intelligence to the president, leading to an invasion of Iraq.
It was this faulty intelligence that led to the loss of nearly 1,600 U.S. soldiers (to date), tens of thousands wounded and who knows how many Iraqis killed or maimed.
Apparently, the administration thinks that most Americans have the intelligence of a jar of out-of-date mayonnaise.
There is ample evidence that President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and the rest of that gang simply wanted to invade Iraq -- maybe for its oil, maybe for postwar billions in profits for Halliburton, maybe for George II to fix something George I had left and thus prove himself -- and the intelligence community simply provided them with the rationale that they demanded.
This administration's pattern of avoiding accountability, blaming others and most recently prosecuting grunt soldiers for carrying out their own policies is utterly shameful.
Ken Keaton
Lauderhill, Fla.
The only real U.S. intelligence failure on Iraq's weapons programs was to have dismissed Hans Blix and his U.N. team's precise assessment based on years of dedicated and incessant evaluation, inspection and dismantling of Saddam Hussein's weapons programs.
I recall their last estimate, prior to being forced out of Iraq by the impending U.S. invasion, was that at least 95% of Hussein's weapons of mass destruction were accounted for and/or destroyed.
The Bush administration would rather attack its own intelligence services than admit the obvious truth -- it didn't matter what anyone said, it was going to take out Hussein and we are now paying an enormous price for this arrogant and criminal power play.
Robert Corsini
Los Angeles
Denver Post
One 21-year-old soldier killed in the occupation of Iraq is worth a dozen or more brain-dead hospital patients. Demonstrators against loss of young Americans in Iraq are labeled left-wing, liberal, un-American commies. Real values have been lost.
Harold Bruzzell, Westminster
Boston Globe
THERE'S NO need for me to add to the many critiques pointing out the hypocrisy, narrow-mindedness and self-imposed ignorance of fundamentalist Christian voters like the Wilkersons (''For family, religion shapes politics," Page A1, March 29). I'm writing for a different reason, which is to caution Democratic Party leaders against pandering to these fundamentalist red staters.
As the Wilkerson article pointed out, some in the Democratic Party feel it is necessary to appeal to the religious right in order to win national elections. Such a shift would lose as many voters for the Democrats as it might gain. We've already got one party that talks the Jesus talk but walks the walk of bigotry and ignorance. We don't need another.
Howard Dean should know that many progressive voters will cease to be Democrats if the party becomes another GOP.
JOHN RANTA
Peterborough, N.H.
Miami Herald
Will our newly installed fundamentalist government now decide upon an individual's ``right to death''?
CAROLE PERGOLA BAIKOW, Pinecrest
Now that President Bush has told us that it is always better to err on the side of life, I wonder how may death sentences he commuted while governor of Texas?
HOWARD GOLDEN, Miami
With all due respect to first lady Laura Bush and the symbolism of giving six hours of good will to Afghanistan women, how can we reconcile the enormous expense of her trip with an administration that diminishes or abandons programs for massive health and social needs also for women?
ROY P. FAIRFIELD, Homestead
Chicago Tribune
Linda Mastandrea
-- I read with interest the recent Chicago Tribune article on the study of the high incidence of post-traumatic stress disorder among women fighting in Iraq, and the possible reasons for this ("Stresses of battle hit female GIs hard; VA study hopes to find treatment for disorder," Page 1, March 20), by Kirsten Scharnberg, Tribune national correspondent.
In the article, it is pointed out that one of the defining moments for developing PTSD appears to be when someone kills another human being, an act of violence that goes against our very nature.
I have people in my life in whom I have witnessed this struggle.
It is a struggle for to cope with returning to normal life when one's life will never again be normal.
After you've killed someone, it doesn't matter if it is 10 years after, or 30.
The pain it causes the human soul never goes away.
Those who have been forced to kill another human being return home only to find their relationships with family and friends permanently changed.
And the possibility of developing new relationships based on love and trust are nearly impossible because they feel changed, and they are.
It is time that we as a nation take a hard look at what kind of lives we are condemning our friends and family to, asking them to suffer this grievous pain for the rest of their existence, all in the name of "peace."