READERS WRITE

It’s admirable to strive, achieve

A letter writer asks, “Whatever happened to accepting yourself as you are?” (“Our obsession with ‘the best’ can backfire,” Aug. 19). To which I might ask, “Why not try to be the best you can be?”

Fortunately, Michael Phelps didn’t look at Mark Spitz’ seven gold medals and say to himself, “No one can be better than that, so why bother?”

It is not adulation but admiration we have for his spectacular success. We are a country of achievers who are not obsessed with perfection but with trying to do better or possibly our best. Is it the writer’s point that we shouldn’t set high standards because we might fail? Life is a competition, whether you choose to keep score or not. There is no “dark side” to achieving in an honorable way.

JUDITH McCARTHY

Atlanta

Finance classes a must in schools

I agree 100 percent with the AJC’s editorial board and the Georgia State Board of Education (“A tough teachable moment,” @issue, Aug. 17). All grades should offer more personal and business finance training and education.

A high school graduate should know the true value of compound interest, stocks, loans, domestic and international business and what they are about. Also add a good course comparing how a company and our government function and differ financially in operation. Maybe study Warren Buffett’s investment ideas and the men and women who have been successful in starting businesses in the last 100 years.

Then high school graduates would be better prepared for a career and marriage and less dependent on our government for survival in the “real world.”

ALLEN TRENT

Canton

Privatization is no cure-all

It is an article of faith with Jim Wooten that the private sector is superior to government in providing services (“Turn services over to private sector,” @issue, Aug. 19). And like all matters of faith, it is impervious to refutation by empirical observation. The 911 system has some problems? Privatize it! Some public school systems are resistant to reform? Privatization will fix all problems! It’s a magic wand!

And it’s just as much broad-brush foolishness as if a liberal were to call for a government takeover of the banking system just because IndyMac went under and Freddie Mac is in crisis. Or to say Enron collapsed from its own greed, so government should control the energy-distribution network. Private enterprise is no more immune to folly and incompetence than government or any other human undertaking. Problems need pragmatic solutions. The answer is rarely to be found in an ideological cure-all.

FRED ROBERTS

Decatur

Atlanta City Council

Responses to “Feckless council fired up for all the wrong reasons,” Cynthia Tucker column, @issue, Aug. 20

Fecklessness comes with the territory

Shirley Franklin is making hard calls because she’s not up for re-election, and if the council members weren’t feckless, they wouldn’t be council members. Cynthia Tucker knows full well that a politician’s first concern is getting re-elected, not making painful decisions. And this sorry state of affairs is not entirely the fault of the voting public, because candidates for office consist mostly of folks who can’t get a job anywhere else.

JACK FRANKLIN

Conyers

Tucker extols qualities Bush possesses

Cynthia Tucker defines a courageous leader as one who “will make the hard call, opposing constituents, if necessary, and leaving himself vulnerable to defeat in order to do the right thing.” Are these not the same qualities she has excoriated President Bush for having?

DAVID OBERG

Cumming

Invasions of Iraq, Georgia not comparable

Recent editorials, letters and a Mike Luckovich cartoon (@issue, Aug. 20) have tried to establish a moral equivalence between our invasion of Iraq and Russia’s invasion of Georgia. This is silly and dangerous.

When Iraq was invaded, it was not a sovereign nation. It was operating under an agreement signed at the end of the first Gulf War. It was in violation of that agreement and had been for years. It was in defiance of more than a dozen U.N. resolutions. All available intelligence, not just U.S. intelligence, pointed to the danger that Iraq posed to the world. The people of Iraq were suffering under a cruel and oppressive military dictatorship. As a result of the invasion, millions of people are trying to establish a free and democratic society in the face of great odds.

Georgia, on the other hand, is a sovereign nation with a democratically elected government. It is in violation of no international law. Its people were not oppressed. The attack by Russia came suddenly and without any consultation with the U.N. or anybody else. As a result, the people of Georgia, the Ukraine and nations adjacent to Russia are living in fear of losing their precious freedom.

To compare the American eagle to the Russian bear is insulting anti-American rhetoric. How far will the “Bush haters” go to vent their anger? This is shameful.

GRANT ESSEX

Milton

DFCS needs help, not lawsuits

Regarding the story “Child advocates rip placement efforts” (Metro, Aug. 20): How many members of Children’s Rights Inc. have adopted?

DFCS cannot pull qualified, willing citizens out of thin air. Many children in state care come from families that are totally dysfunctional and not capable of caring for a relative’s child. A majority of these children have special needs that take more than love to address. DFCS may need to improve, but it needs help and constructive criticism, not lawsuits.

JOYCE MATTHEWS

Fairburn

 MIKE LUCKOVICH / Staff
Editorial cartoon for Wed. Aug. 20, 2008, is a satire of the U.S. response to Russia's invasion of the Republic of Georgia.