What happens when the shoe is on the other foot
I read with some amusement of the current crop of Democrats complaining about the redistricting efforts going on under the Gold Dome. It is somehow ironic that they complained — when I remember that when the Democrats were in firm control, one longtime Democrat would tell Republicans who complained to “quit crying and deal with it.”
Now we have Democrats commenting that the new redistricting would violate the Voting Rights Act. Bob Poole, McDonough
TAXES
Buffett might be worthy of a medal of honor
In “Buffett: I don’t want tax breaks” (News, Aug. 21), the accompanying chart showing variations in taxes required of the exceptionally wealthy through the years was interesting. It would have been even more interesting to combine that chart with a second chart showing the years borrowing increased.
Excessive and wasteful spending is only one problem to be addressed. To stop borrowing, we’ll simply have to pay more of our own bills. Apparently, the only way we can do that is to return to our past method of raising taxes on the exceptionally wealthy. As so many young people have given their lives in military service, it is shameful when our most financially able citizens protest serving with their money.
Maybe we should begin awarding medals of honor to taxpayers such as Warren Buffett, whose success has provided our country with strong financial support. All taxpayers serve their country — but some are truly outstanding. Margaret Curtis, Atlanta
REPUBLICANS
Quick to blame Obama; slow to help the jobless
Poor Kyle Wingfield. How easy it is for him (and Charles Krauthammer and Thomas Sowell) to ride the Republican let’s-blame-everything-on-Obama train (“New jobs at little to no cost,” Opinion, Aug. 21).
Never mind that the Obama administration has created an environment in which large businesses enjoy some of the highest profits and lowest taxes in decades. And why are our Republican “leaders” not imploring their friendly funders to invest in U.S. talent? Because they don’t want us to have jobs until we have a Republican president. In the meantime, Social Security applications soar; unemployment funds are depleted; emergency rooms are swamped; and the middle and lower financial classes have no money to spend. Michaelene Gorney, Johns Creek
Critic is misinformed about the GOP and taxes
Regarding “All should learn what GOP really stands for” (Readers write, Opinion, Aug. 25), I have to wonder where he got his misinformation.
He claims that the GOP wants to block efforts to tax the “rich.” Many of these so-called “rich” are small businesses — the ones who predominately create jobs. These businesses are already saddled with numerous regulations that stifle growth, and enormous capital gains taxes, along with unknown tax liabilities in the future. With such uncertainty, why would they hire?
Additionally, there is no one in the GOP calling for tax hikes on the middle class. Elaine Luiz, Newnan
MILITARY
Fine column reached two wrong conclusions
Professor Andrew Bacevich’s “Reducing military benefits unfair to those who served” (Opinion, Aug. 24) is provocative and thought-provoking, but perhaps it reaches two wrong conclusions.
REDISTRICTING
Looking at the proposed Georgia House and Senate districts, it is apparent that they are the result of “politics as usual.” In so many cases, the lines have been drawn to facilitate strength for a political party or specific representative. It appears that the people determining district lines are more concerned with race, personal or party interest, and anything other than what is good and proper for the citizens involved. These people are supposed to be our representatives. It is time they started acting that way — and if they cannot do so, perhaps we as citizens should tell them that with our next opportunity to vote.
Grant Knox, Tucker
The first problem is not that defined military benefits are unfair, but that the wrong people pay these benefits. In the current system, such benefits are future entitlements to be paid by future taxpayers. It would be far better to fund these military benefits at the current levels, but to make these defined military contributions in which current taxpayers fund 100 percent of the cost. That way, the taxpayers who benefit from the war would also be paying for the war.
The second problem is the assertion concerning the All Volunteer Force’s success. The All Volunteer Force began just three weeks before my end of service in the Army Airborne. I would argue that the U.S. time span with problems of debt, wars, infrastructure and education are highly correlated with the time span of the All Volunteer Force. Universal service is a better way to gain national unanimity on the benefits and costs of foreign wars than volunteer service. David C. Warlick, Decatur
