Church not the one trying to bully others
A reader writes regarding birth control that “affordable access is a basic human right” (“Spending not always matter of choice,” Readers write, Opinion, March 6). It’s been a while since I read the Constitution, but I don’t remember ever seeing anything about me paying for her contraceptives. However she can read in the First Amendment about religious freedom. The Obama administration has asked religious institutions to violate their beliefs so that she can have free contraceptives. No one is saying that she can’t have contraceptives. The Church is only saying that it is unwilling (based on religious principles) to subsidize them for her.
Eric C. Simontis, Alpharetta
Narrow-minded GOP will pay a big price
Regarding “Cannibalizing and cowering take over” (Opinion, March 5), when a political party’s basic philosophy is exclusion rather than inclusion, eventually it will get around to excluding its own. The soul of the Republican Party has become small-minded and duplicitous as a result.
Elizabeth Hartley Filliat, Alpharetta
Fixation on drilling is economic nonsense
Here we go again with the debate over gas prices. Global markets push up the price of oil and “drill, baby, drill” and “build the pipeline” crews raise their hue and cry. The global market sets the price of oil, and even if it were coming out of our faucets, it would still be priced according to global demand and volatility in supply. The best way to stabilize the cost of fossil fuels in household budgets is to reduce dependence on them. A system that places a gradually increasing fee on oil, gas and coal at the point of production and returns the revenue to each of us as a dividend would encourage this transformation.
Peter C. Sederberg, Atlanta
Sowell’s harsh words show he’s hypocritical
Regarding “Mud-slinging candidates sully serious national issues” (Opinion, March 6), Thomas Sowell is guilty of the actions he criticizes (mud-slinging). Like Rush Limbaugh arguing for decency in the public realm, Sowell flings disparaging comments at political opponents — then wonders why we all can’t just get along. Sowell makes his living slinging mud at Democrats and the mainline media. He counts on a Pavlovian acceptance of his propaganda. The presidential mudfest is a logical result.
A person or party whose main objective is to defeat perceived opponents (instead of addressing the fundamental issues facing the U.S.) reaps the harvest of that conflict: a forever war of a house divided against itself, a nation in decline not because of an opponents’ actions, but its own. This is not a game. Our people are hurting, our soldiers are dying and our country is in peril. Sowell should know better and do better.
Dan Curl, Atlanta
