Columnist Pitts wrong about conservatives

Leonard Pitts (“Why conservatives find education dangerous,” Opinion, July 4) asserts that conservatism now has no intellectual foundation and that educated liberals have not been indoctrinated, but rather have learned how to think.

I am a conservative college professor with a Ph.D. in business. I view the foundations of conservatism as limited government, fiscal responsibility, and personal freedom and opportunity. I use facts and reasoning, including an appreciation for how economic incentives work to draw conclusions including: high taxes and heavy regulation suppress economic growth and harm many workers, paying people not to work when we are coming out of a pandemic causes many people not to work, and proposing to spend tens of trillions to turn American energy green and have essentially zero effect on global temperatures does not make economic sense. Count me as an educated conservative.

DANA R. HERMANSON, MARIETTA

History of bias is clear in those who refute disparities

There are two versions of the Golden Rule.

The scriptural version says to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. The societal/financial version goes like this: He who owns the gold makes the rules. Unfortunately, for the last 400 years, more Americans have followed the second version.

The result has been disparities favoring privileged demographics and cultures via decisions and directions that have negatively impacted education, healthcare, legal, financial, home ownership, and environmental to the detriment of the marginalized. While many think we have become more enlightened over the last half century, it is difficult to refute an increase in both the wage and home ownership gap between Black and white. That history of bias becomes increasing more evident with each layer of resistance by those who are uncomfortable acknowledging our country’s deficiencies

R.A. DICKINSON, ALPHARETTA

Keep Reading

In this photo from 1997, then-U.S. Sen. Max Cleland, D-Ga. (in wheelchair), and fellow senators (left to right) Bob Kerrey, D-Neb.; John McCain, R-Ariz.; Charles Hagel, R-Neb.; John Kerry, D-Mass.; and Chuck Robb, D-Va. walk along the Vietnam Veterans Memorial wall behind the wreath they would lay to commemorate the 15th anniversary of groundbreaking for the memorial. All six senators served in Vietnam, and Cleland lost both legs and an arm in that war. (Rick McKay/Washington Bureau)

Credit: Rick McKay

Featured

Fulton County Sheriff Patrick Labat gives a tour of Fulton County Jail in  2023. (Natrice Miller/AJC 2023)

Credit: Natrice Miller/AJC