PRIVACY
Getting married not government’s decision
The decision to get married (when made by two legally competent people who are of the age of consent) is their decision and their business.
It is not my business.
It is not your business — and it is not the business of the state or federal governments.
Yet enormous amounts of time, energy and money have been poured into debates and legal wrangling over this issue.
Politicians speak loudly and often about keeping the government out of our lives.
There are fewer government intrusions into our lives that are bigger than dictating whether or not two people can get married.
Isn’t it time we all started minding our own business, instead of meddling in everyone else’s business?
BRUCE GARNER, ATLANTA
PHOTO ID
Photo ID law has an unintended effect
Hooray for columnist Mary Sanchez for mostly telling it like it is (“Photo identification laws vestige of Jim Crow era,” Opinion, Sept. 4).
Everyone is missing another point:
Some folks are also losing their right to drive and the right to legal identification.
My son is a college student.
He lives in his college town.
He pays friends rent to share their house.
He is not on the lease and he is not on any of the utilities.
His one credit card bill comes to our house (where he hasn’t lived for four years).
He gets his bank statement electronically.
He will not be able to renew his driver’s license because he can’t prove where he lives.
This is a child who was born in Northside Hospital, has lived at the same address since birth (until he went away to school) and is a native Atlantan.
I agree that the new laws hark back to Jim Crow, and that is appalling.
What about my son’s renewing the license he legitimately obtained when he was 19?
Apparently, Congress and Georgia’s Legislature didn’t think about this unintended consequence.
SUSAN BEECHING, ATLANTA
ELECTION 2012
Voters must separate fact from fiction
Americans complain about the bad job that Congress and the president are doing with the economy, protecting this country and looking after the welfare of its citizens.
However, when it comes time to vote, hard-line Democrats and Republicans toe the party line, and send the same “old boys” back to Washington.
Instead of looking at all politicians and voting based on what they have (or have not) done, they select the straight party ticket.
Over the years, I have tried to base my vote on results.
My vote has gone to both Democratic and Republican candidates.
Voters are now facing one of the most dirtiest campaigns in our history.
They need to separate fact from fiction, and base their vote on what is best for the future of this country - not what the candidates are saying to get re-elected.
The president and a lot of the members of Congress need to be replaced.
Give someone else a chance to tend the store, and if they don’t do the job, tell them at the ballot box in the next election.
BILL STAVRO, SUWANEE
