POLITICS
When will Georgians recognize GOP myth?
Thank you Jay Bookman for stating so eloquently in your article on cause and effect ("Ga. Republicans snip the link between cause, effect," Opinion, March 19), the biggest problem with Republican-ruled Georgia. They have us wrapped in gauze so tightly that it is producing the optimum defect in stewardship. No roads, no education, no health insurance and no jobs from the "let's say no to everything" Republican army. Even worse than the lowest tax collection of all 50 states, is the relatively high sales tax of 6.97 percent shifting that burden to the poor. It's like they are trying to get blood from a turnip, and what little they get is declared the elixir for all that ails us. Cause and effect indeed. What I really want to do is scream from the hilltops, "The experiment has failed." When will they realize the trickle-down effect is a myth?
JEFF CATHRALL, ATLANTA
MINIMUM WAGE
Congress should leave private contracts alone
The AJC recently published articles from Rex Huppke, in which he discusses the pros and cons of a minimum wage hike. All of his arguments are based on economics. There is no mention of the moral or Constitutional implications of the entire concept of a minimum wage. Employment is a legal contract between employer and employee, agreed to voluntarily by both parties. One of the functions of the Constitution is to defend freedom of contract. When Congress interferes with private contracts, it is immorally using force to require one party to alter the contract to satisfy the demands of the other party or society in general. Economic outcomes should always be subservient to the principle of freedom.
DARYL POLSTER, SANDY SPRINGS
STREETCARS
New rail vehicles were obsolete in the 1960s
Talk of the new Atlanta Streetcar reminds me of growing up in Atlanta in the 1940s and the streetcar system in place at that time. It consisted of rails buried in the street and an overhead electric wire system throughout the city. The clanging streetcars seemed to greatly disrupt traffic flow, and the labyrinth of overhead wires everywhere was like a giant spider web hovering over the city. By the early ’50s, these archaic streetcars were replaced by electric buses, which still used the overhead network of wires. By the early ’60s, as the city began a growth spurt, we finally realized that the confining nature and expense of these early 20th century ideas could be replaced by a more efficient and less confining people moving system called motor buses. After being away at college, I vividly remember going into Atlanta for the first time after all the overhead wires had been removed. The positive change to the cityscape was stunning. Bringing back the streetcar that was obsolete 60 years ago is like Delta going back to propeller-driven aircraft or the Norfolk Southern Railway reviving steam-powered locomotives.
JOEL SMITH, STOCKBRIDGE
