Thanks to tea party, Obama gains power
It would be truly ironic if the tea party ends up strengthening the executive branch through their obstinate refusal to work with the president on any issues. The tea party really hates Obama; how could it strengthen him? The tea party has made it clear to its constituents that compromise is equivalent to betrayal. The result of this obstinance is an ineffective Congress that does not govern. It enacts no legislation. It can barely pass a budget. Does the tea party think weak, ineffective government is a way to “downsize” government? Apparently so.
The problem with this strategy is that it creates a void. To keep government functioning at all, the president is outflanking Congress through executive actions. By “doing nothing,” this Congress actually is working against its own purported goal. As Congress continues to abdicate its authority to legislate, the executive branch will grow stronger, the unelected judicial branch will grow more powerful, and our locally elected representatives to the legislative branch of government will become meaningless.
KATHLEEN ACKERMANN, ATLANTA
Man packs child’s school lunches, too
The war on women (and men) is carried on by women like Meredith Moss more passive aggressively than anythingconservative men are doing. The subtitle of her “Secrets to packing healthy and creative school lunches” (Living, Aug. 6) is, “Nutrition experts and moms share recipes, advice. …” The article then provides advice exclusively from women.
As a working father of four children who has packed my kids’ lunches for almost a decade, I take offense at the idea that packing lunches and caring for children is women’s work. If the AJC had an article about running a business or being a doctor and then exclusively interviewed men, we would be offended at the implication that men alone could contribute. By implying that caring for children is women’s work, Ms. Moss’s article reinforces the glass ceiling that men experience as parents and women experience in the workplace. It is the same glass ceiling.
MARK SHUMATE, ROSWELL
Uphold standards; kids will manage
As a high school dropout and World War II veteran, I was admitted to the University of California without academic qualifications. I survived, as did many veterans. We did not “dumb down” the university curriculum. I was required to take a “dumbbell English” course to qualify; that was it. I was treated the same as all other students and graduated after four years as others did. No college standards were lowered. I went on to graduate school at San Francisco State University. Contrary to the objections of some letter writers to the editor, today is not the first time in our history this has happened. And the world goes on.
DON GALLUP, POWDER SPRINGS
