Airline dress policy not draconian
There is too much being made of United Airlines’ decision to enforce its employee/family/retiree travel dress code. I’m a Delta Air Lines retiree and have been aware of, and complied with, Delta’s dress code for pleasure pass travel since the mid-1960s. It is not a draconian policy; it merely sets the bar a little higher than for the general public. The policy is clearly stated in our employment and retiree policy manuals. One ignores it at one’s peril. It is a small price to pay for receiving free or service charge travel. Back in the ’60s, men had to wear a suit and tie and women had to wear a dress. Dress codes evolve over time, thank goodness.
DAVID PORTER, DORAVILLE
U.S. a nation of both capitalism, socialism
Another letter-writer wrote that helping the poor was socialism, and that Democrats were hypocrites because Democrats support public health care, which is based on Christian principles, but refuse to promote Christianity in taxpayer-funded institutions or public places (“Liberals should make up their minds,” Readers Write, March 26). She seems to assume that only Christianity supports aiding the poor although the vast majority of religions do, and a great many non-religious people do as well.
Separation of church and state requires us to protect religion without favoring one over another. Socialism is the means by which we pool our money to fund things we need but could not afford otherwise. Our country has always mixed socialism with capitalism, which encourages and rewards private enterprise and private ownership of businesses and property.
Without socialism, we would not have the most powerful military in the world, public education, a public mail service, public fire and police protection.
We may disagree about what makes sense to spend our taxes on and what does not, and that’s OK. That’s not communism, nor is it theocracy. It’s democracy.
JEANNE CAHILL, ROME
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