Put good of country over good of party
Thank you, John Pagoda, for your letter of Thursday, Nov. 5, regarding Tom Sears, and expressing thoughts I've had for some time and neglected to express myself. I am so tired of the attitudes of Mr. Sears, Rush Limbaugh and other extremists like them. Have they had their heads in the sand for the past eight years?
I am a registered independent voter, and I'd like to see some decency and respect given to our president, no matter who he or she is, and also to other hard-working members of our government. I'd also like to see more attitudes that reflect what's good for our country as opposed to what's good for an individual political party.
Is nonpartisanship lost forever? Some of these writers and talk show hosts turn me off totally.
Marjorie Landers
Cooperstown
Republicans mustn't forget who they are
An interesting fact about American politics is the spectrum consists only of middle, a right and a far right. There doesn't appear to be a left, at least according to the New York Times and its ilk.
Take the case of Dede Scozzafava in New York's 23rd Congressional District. Dede dropped out of the face a few days before Election Day, but prior to that she was the Republican candidate. The media has continued to describe her as a centrist, moderate Republican.
As a member of the state Assembly, Dede voted for every tax increase that came before her. Dede favors Card Check; is in favor of gay marriage; supports abortion right up to the day of delivery and supported the so-called Stimulus Bill. If that's the center, where exactly is the left?
I pay pretty careful attention to the news as delivered by a wide variety of sources and often see references to ultra-conservatives but never ultra-liberals. There are many right-wing extremists out there but apparently no left-wing extremists. There are even right-wing fanatics but no ... well you get the idea.
The media keeps saying the Republican Party, in order to survive, needs to be more moderate, like Dede. In other words, if Republicans would just agree with Democrats on everything, they'd do fine. I don't think that's true. I don't think Republicans lost power in the last two elections because they went too far right or because the country took a massive lurch to the left. I think it's because the Republican in the White House and Republicans in the Congress forgot who they were. I think for Republicans to survive they need to say what they stand for and mean it so voters can have a real choice.
William Post
New Berlin
