READERS WRITE

Lieberman cartoon disgusting, perverse

Mike Luckovich’s cartoon showing the Democratic donkey with a knife driven into its back by Sen. Joe Lieberman may be the most disgusting and perverse I have seen from his pen (@issue, Nov. 7). I could remind Luckovich it was Lieberman’s own party (the Democrats) who abandoned him for supporting the war in Iraq and ran a picked rival against him in the primary.

Lieberman “betrayed” them by winning the general election and returning to his Senate seat. Once there, he has caucused and voted with the Democrats and has not transferred his allegiance to the Republican Party (where he would be more than welcome). Apparently, for Luckovich, dissent from the Democratic Party line and holding to one’s principles constitute “a knife in the back.”

RON BUTLER

Powder Springs

‘Preachers’, not ‘teachers’, indoctrinate

Maureen Downey’s column “Professors don’t pull students to the left” (@issue, Nov. 10) referred to House Bill 154, introduced by State Rep. Tom Rice of Peachtree Corners, and quoted its language as follows: “Teachers should not take unfair advantage of the immaturity of students by indoctrinating them with their own opinions before the students have had an opportunity to examine other opinions.”

Having attended a liberal arts college many years ago, I remember well and with great pleasure the open-minded discussions on all manner of subjects. The opinions and preconceptions that I took to college were often challenged and disputed. Sometimes my opinions had to be modified to reflect my expanded understanding of the world. That is what the learning experience is all about.

But never did I sense that professors were out to “indoctrinate” me. Challenge me —- yes. Rice’s choice of the word “indoctrinate” to describe my professors’ intent seemed far from the mark. Then I realized, there must have been a spelling error! Rice didn’t mean to begin his comment with “teachers,” he meant “preachers”! Now it makes perfect sense. And that is a bill that I could support with enthusiasm.

SHELBY WEDDLE, Peachtree City

Election a step toward equality for all

I share Carl White’s enthusiasm for the election of Barack Obama and had similar childhood/family experiences regarding neighborhood segregation (” ‘Just the way it is’ today means all free to achieve,” @issue, Nov. 7). I like to hope that if my parents were alive today, things might have changed and they, too, would share in the joy of the election of an African-American to the presidency.

White spoke of the country electing a man to the highest office “without fear of the color of his skin.” It makes me wonder how long it will take for Americans to treat equally and without fear people who love differently from us, i.e., gays, lesbians and transgendered citizens.

CYNTHIA BORNEMANN, Atlanta

Self-made president not just a passing fad

It never ceases to disappoint how Americans dwell on superficialities. The Sunday letter “Fashionable choice not the best one” (@issue, Nov. 9), comparing the people’s choice of Barack Obama as president to the ephemeral nature of high schooler’s fashion in clothing, only draws attention to this common failing. What the writer seems to have ignored since leaving high school is that the self-made fortune of President-elect Barack Obama —- built on high intelligence, thoughtfulness and tenacity —- will never go out of style.

MARC MARTON, Roswell

Electoral College ensures all votes count

It is common when Democrats lose the presidential election that they call to do away with the Electoral College. I was surprised to read a recent letter to the editor from a Democratic voter who thinks it is time to do away with it even though his candidate won (“Time to abolish the Electoral College,” @ issue, Nov. 7). The complaint was that his vote didn’t count since the state went another way.

The Electoral College was put into place to protect the small states from being disenfranchised by the big states. If we had a straight popular vote for president, all of our votes in Georgia would be wasted. The only votes that would count would be the heavily populated states such as New York and California. Campaigns would only be run in the big states; candidates wouldn’t need to concern themselves with the opinions and needs of those in the small states.

The only way to ensure your vote does indeed count is with the Electoral College. It has served us well, keeping the playing field level for all the states.

DENNIS HOWELL, Suwanee

Responses to “GOP must recommit to its principles,” @issue, Nov. 9.

Republican Party must revert to roots

I certainly agree with the headline of Rep. John Boehner’s opinion piece. But what principles does the GOP represent? It used to be that the Republican Party was the party of fiscal conservatives who wanted a balanced budget, wanted to defend the fundamental tenets of the Constitution and keep government’s nose out of individuals’ personal affairs.

Ronald Reagan changed all that, converting the GOP to the party of “deficits don’t matter” and social conservatism. President Bush has taken that to the extreme by abrogating the Constitution repeatedly, restricting Americans’ civil liberties while spending us to a heretofore unimaginable deficit.

I sincerely hope the Republican Party takes Boehner’s opinion to heart and returns to its time-honored principles of fiscal conservatism, letting individuals determine the lives they wish to live and by restoring the freedoms we used to enjoy.

JAMES HANDSFIELD

Atlanta

Liberals left to clean conservatives’ mess

Attention, John Boehner: America is most emphatically not “a center-right country.” America has had a good, long look at the way conservatives govern and have had enough to last us a long time.

We saw unrestrained greed drive us into a recession and realized we want government regulations. A conservative administration took us into war against a country that presented no threat to us and we have counted the cost in dollars and lives. A hurricane turned a major U.S. city into a third-world disaster and we saw how important it is to have government that works. Conservatives thought they could sell us the privatization of Social Security, but we rang up “no sale.”

Conservative politicians such as Boehner have abetted the Bush-Cheney administration in racing toward the catastrophes we face today. Once again, it will be up to liberals and pragmatists to bail out a disaster created by conservatives.

FRED ROBERTS

Decatur

 MIKE LUCKOVICH / Staff
Editorial cartoon for Nov. 7, 2008, featuring Sen. Joe Lieberman.