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Letters to the Editor

In response to the lead article in our last issue:

Gentlemen: Many thanks for your very astute analysis of the election. However, I believe you dismiss what I call the "core value" vote at your own peril. While I agree that foreign policy, ie: the war; was a critical factor, the 20 plus percent who stated their concerns about moral or core values as a reason for favoring Bush was real, and the President would not have won without them. While I would not categorize all liberals as secular nor all conservatives as religious, the data seem to indicate that Bush was seen as having certain principle beliefs and in sticking to them, while Kerry was seen as vascillating on whatever it is that he believes, ie: abortion, gays, etc. Many red state voters apparently saw this difference as important.

Ronn Cupp

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Dear Dr. MacDonald,

I was puzzled by your analysis about what Bush needs to do in order to avoid the stain of previous Republican presidents from the gilded age. Particularly since in his first term he has done nothing but enact policies that will only make the growing inequalities in America even greater.

You seem to pre-suppose that Republican leadership won't necessarily make the needed choices to address our problems, but that just maybe it could happen!. That given hard choices they just might adopt a pragmatic rather than an ideological approach to governance. Oh! If only that were possible! Unfortunately, there is almost no chance that Bush and his advisors will choose a flexible pragmatic approach to solve problems. They are single mindedly driven by a radical market ideology and militaristic foreign policy and nothing can shake their faith. Any suggestions or realities to the contrary are simply ignored. These people are true believers in their own magic. So if you don't believe as they do save your breath.

Americans had a chance to chart a different path and they fucked up. That's the best description that I can think of. Working families had a chance to look out for their own economic interests and they chose not to. There is a price for this lack of insight.

We are already sliding into another gilded age, which is masked to a considerable degree by the New Deal and Great Society social safety nets enacted by past Democratic administrations. In other words it hasn't become as obvious yet to many working people, unlike in the previous gilded age, when there were no safety nets and everyone but the Republican presidents and Wall Street Bankers knew about it or cared. Bush and his ideologues don't care either. Working people will be paying the price.

Expect things to get worse over the next four years because of either neglect or worse yet, irrelevant and destructive policies pretending to solve our social problems. A good example is the Medicare prescription drug bill. Every healthcare expert who understands it knows that it's a bad bill. The nonpartisan American Association of Retired People called it a bad piece of legislation that will need significant modification before it comes into effect in 2006. And they initially supported it because seniors need affordable prescription drug coverage and they just wanted to get a bill passed, one that would be changed later. Unfortunately they failed to realize that you need people in government who also care about the effect rather than just the headline.

Make no mistake about it the best these people could do for us over the next four years is nothing at all. But they're to arrogant for that. Sooner or later the Democrats will eventually inherit their mess. I hope that when they do, that like FDR they shame them and publicly ridicule them every time they open their mouths.

Sincerely,
Gary Anderson
Kalispell, Mt. USA