Letters to the Editor
Portlander
Published Letters: 305 Editor's Choice: 13
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HawkeyeJim
[Read the article: The Warner-less race]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]You wingnuts don't seem to know much about Democrats. I am definitely in the left wing of the Dems, and Hilary is NOT one of us nor was Bill. They are DLC centrists, considerably to the right of both Kerry and Gore and not at all supported by the left. Warner's views and Hilary's on most issues are hardly different.
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I'm so disappointed
[Read the article: The flying spaghetti monster]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Judas Waffle-
I really am disappointed. Apparently, you have no sense of humor. I even tried to make the humorous intent obvious. No sense of subtlety or irony either. Sorry I misread you - I will attempt no further humorous exchanges. As for written fisticuffs, not today. I am a an atheist, but I have no particular desire to engage in the debate.
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Braindead?
[Read the article: Sullivan's travels]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]CB-
Are you braindead or what? Liberal anarchist is an oxymoron first of all. AND, who are these so called trust-fund liberals. I've been in the left part of the Democratic Party for 38 years, and I have never met one of these trust-fund liberals. I knew trust-fund types in college and after, but they were pretty much all conservatives. Where do you get this garbage?
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OK
[Read the article: Sullivan's travels]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]CB-
1- Your statement was neither benign nor a rational argument. It was a deliberate attempt to demonize a class of people with belligerent and hateful rhetoric - a class of people that you define so broadly as to be meaningless. You were not attempting to engage in civil discourse, and that is why I responded as I did. My response was in no way an ad hominem attack - it was a response to nearly pure vitriol.
2- For more than 75 years now, 'Liberal' has been a term to describe people who believe that government can be an equalizer, an enforcer of rules for the public good. Liberals are not completely consistent, but Social Security, Medicare, the Civil Rights Act and many others are hallmarks of Liberalism. Anarchism is the antithesis of the idea that government can be a force for good. We have a fair number of real nutjob, violent anarchists here in Oregon in Eugene, and I have met a few of them. Whack jobs, yes, trust funders absolutely not.Ergo, liberal anarchist is indeed an oxymoron.
3- There are 'leftists' who are anarchists, but Liberal and leftist are NOT synonymous except in the warped minds of wingnut conservatives. Leftists run the gamut from commies to Fabian socialists to anarchists and lots of other stuff. Some of them hate the system of government that we have, others believe something quite different. For the record, I refer to myself as an anarcho-socialist - also an oxymoron BTW - but I know precisely what I mean. I dislike the government as much as I dislike corporate America. When markets fail, as with health care, I favor government solutions, like single payer health care financing. For most things, however, I want the government to stay out of my life and away from my family. I oppose the nanny state, the idea that government ALWAYS is the best solution and the idea that people need to conform to be responsible. Hence, anarcho-socialist.
4- To live off a trust fund requires at least $2 million in invested assets. That is about 0.1 % of the U.S. population, and there is lots of evidence to demonstrate that the majority of these people are Republicans - e.g. Steve Forbes, William Kristol, etc. I have been around affluent and wealthy people my entire life - very affluent parents, Ivy League university, and considerable personal success - but I still have not met any trust fund Liberals unless you want to count Henry Ford II.
5- You are correct that it is inappropriate to equate the Star of David with the swastika, but it is worth noting that Israel does indeed engage routinely and systematically in Nazi practices - dispossession and settlement of occupied territory (more properly known today as ethnic cleansing), collective punishment, jailing and torturing loved ones and relatives to force confessions from primary targets, etc. These practices have made me question my own heritage.