Readers write
SEX TRAFFICKING
Stop to think how your
actions affect others
The recent editorial regarding sex trafficking noted demand as a problem, but failed to include the high demand for pornography as part of it (“End sex trafficking in Georgia,” Opinion, Aug. 17). However, censorship won’t banish pornography any more than making abortion illegal will end abortions.
Anyone who thinks all porn performers are willing participants is as willfully ignorant as those who think all girls or women getting abortions were never forced to have one. If we really care about the lives of women and children, we will do whatever we can to stop both back-alley abortions and the sex slave trade.
To do that, we — whether we are male or female — must first develop a conscience about the way our actions affect other people.
MARGARET CURTIS, ATLANTA
WATER WARS
How much sympathy
does Florida deserve?
Regarding the desire of the state of Florida to lay claim to waters that originate in the state of Georgia, while one can sympathize with the plight of those in the Apalachicola area, the fact is, Florida is asking millions of Georgians to sacrifice something that is theirs, by right, for the benefit of what — a few hundred fishermen, or a few thousand, at best?
I would feel more sympathy for the desires of Floridians if federal taxpayers did not pay for the restoration of the Everglades, an ecosystem whose decline was due to Florida siphoning off water for growth.
Florida partially destroyed an ecosystem to build what it has, and it still has the benefits. I think Florida should accept that Georgia has a right to Georgia water.
PHILLIP S. WALLACE, SNELLVILLE
SOCIAL SECURITY
Don’t touch benefits
earned by our seniors
We seniors have worked all our lives. It is time the benefits we have earned are paid to us, and this means no cutting Social Security. Tax the wealthy, and don’t take away — but add to — the benefits seniors receive.
BARBARA COFER, DOUGLASVILLE
VOTING RIGHTS
It’s harder to renew
one’s driver’s license
The Aug. 16 editorial cartoon by Mike Luckovich featuring the punch line, “I’m watching, ‘So You Think You Can Vote’” (Opinion) brought to mind something I did recently. I renewed my driver’s license.
According to federal requirements, I had to present the following: my soon-to-expire present license; my Social Security card; my birth certificate, and two proofs of residence. Relatively speaking, that’s a lot of baggage the federal government is putting on me to renew my privilege of operating a motor vehicle on our public roads.
On the other hand, I have had the right to vote since Day One of our Republic. Why does that same federal government object very strenuously when my state attempts to verify that I — and others who want to vote — do indeed qualify within the terms of our Constitution?
DAN SIEGEL, DACULA
