READERS WRITE

SECESSION

Georgia Republicans’ tax efforts bound to tear down state

An AJC headline asked “Will tax breaks bust state budget?” (Page One, April 20). The Republican tax breaks aren’t designed to destroy the state budget. They are designed to destroy the state. Ronald Reagan said government is the problem. Georgia Republicans are constantly reducing the size of the problem to make it easier to eliminate the problem.

Unnecessary, unwise and counterproductive Republican tax cuts weaken and eventually eliminate the basic building blocks of our democracy: schools, teachers, libraries, transportation, courts, law enforcement and fire protection.

Republicans constantly say that government doesn’t work and no government is the best government. Without a functioning democracy, the publicly stated Georgia Republican fantasy solution of secession (Senate Resolution 632), with publicly funded private schools and privatized government, becomes a reality. With SR 632, treason is redefined as patriotism.

MIKE HOLZKNECHT, Atlanta

Responses to “Secession talk far from extreme,” @issue, April 22.

Solution needed as federal powers border on tyranny

Thanks for printing Bob Barr’s column concerning secession. Liberals seem to forget that the states created the federal government and not the other way around. The federal government was endowed with limited power by the Constitution, but it has been overreaching its authority since the Lincoln administration. In response to South Carolina’s secession in 1861, Lincoln organized a 75,000-man army to force Americans —- Southern Americans —- into compliance with his vision. His actions were of course illegal and unconstitutional but were shrouded in the highly emotional issue of slavery, which was at that time legal and constitutional.

Thus began the dissolution of our democratic republic, envisioned by our founding fathers, where problems are supposed to be resolved by discussion, debate and compromise. So now we have come full circle over 150 years and are talking about secession again because federal power now borders on tyranny. A satisfactory solution must be found by our political leaders.

JOHN P. NOWELL, Cumming

A Texas withdrawal would be a two-fold benefit for nation

I fully agree with Bob Barr’s view (“Secession talk far from extreme,” @issue, April 22) that there’s nothing wrong with exploring the idea that Texas might secede from the United States. In fact, I’d go even further and say that Texas should be encouraged to leave the Union. The departure of that state would make it impossible to elect another extremist Republican to the presidency and would also probably prevent the Republicans from controlling the Senate for the foreseeable future.

I also agree with Barr that a free Texas might see an influx of “independent-minded citizens” from other states. Just like boulders rolling downhill into a pit, tea-baggers from all over the United States will surely flock to an independent Texas, much to the improvement of the remainder of the nation.

MICHAEL MASHBURN, Atlanta

Responses to “Inciting fears in hard times dangerous,” @issue, April 20.

Rhetoric only adds fuel to conservative vs. liberal fire

If Jay Bookman had been a cannon operator in the old naval days, the opposite side of the ship would have been full of holes. He’s definitely good at burning himself with the fire of his own rhetoric. His column bemoans the danger of inciting fear in these times, then promptly asserts that the feeling today is “eerily reminiscent” of the Oklahoma City, Waco and Ruby Ridge days; indeed “the stage could be set for far worse.”

He follows with the tedious but amusing implication that the general conservative consensus is let’s get our guns and blow the Libs away. Glad you’re trying to calm things down, Jay.

DANIEL BENSON, Cumming

Bookman’s anti-Bush campaign rises to the extreme

I take exception to Jay Bookman. Just read his columns during the last eight years instilling fear in “everything Bush.” He paints that administration as an agent shredding our Bill of Rights and blames everything negative on a president dealing with a terrorist offensive perpetrated within our shores unlike anything since Pearl Harbor. He only fails to blame Bush for the vernal equinox and recurrent visit of Haley’s Comet.

He glorifies government intervention in banking, insurance, automobile, energy, educational and health care industries. He promotes government spending over private spending and fails to mention the money comes from the very citizens who would prefer to keep their wages and spend it themselves.

M.L. GABLE, Alpharetta