The so-called Another View editorial Jan. 26 (

“Obama’s election marks the start of America’s decline”

), a rambling diatribe and fear-based attack on President Obama accusing a litany of people, including government employees, of being “parasites,” was devoid of any social value.

Paraphrasing from “Billy Madison,” at no point in the writer’s rambling, incoherent response was he even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought.

But let’s talk about “parasites,” because there are real ones who truly threaten American prosperity.

Our politicians have permitted a new generation of “robber barons” to almost bankrupt us “financially, spiritually and morally,” the editorial writer’s exact words.

Advertisement

The most dangerous of these are the investment bankers who President Clinton and Republicans allowed to seize control of the U.S. banking system, the very heart and engine of free enterprise. To take over, they got our politicians to repeal laws that had been effective since the Great Depression, protecting our banking system from predators and greed mongers — parasites, for sure.

Here’s the remarkable part. Congress has yet to re-enact those laws to pry the banking system from the grasp of this new generation of robber barons.

As a result, the banks they control are still too big to fail and continue to engage in high-risk, convoluted, greedy schemes, entirely at odds with the primary banking responsibilities they are supposed to safeguard.

It seems the author’s stream of effluent is at worst deliberately, and at best stupidly, abetting the big parasites to deflect attention from the worst exploitation of the American economy since the original robber barons in the early 20th century.

I would urge him to refocus his anger on the big parasites who are still gambling with our futures and gorging themselves on billions they skim from our banks.

Also, he should stop consuming that toxic gruel he’s being fed by those right-wing cable shows. It’s making him sick.

Advertisement

Joseph H. Martin

Portland

I found it ironic that the Jan. 26 edition contained both the thought-provoking article “Rise of the (job killing) machines?” and the mean-spirited Another View on President Obama’s inauguration (“Obama’s election marks the start of America’s decline“).

I am an advocate for the homeless. I try to help the poor people Dewey Rundis calls “parasites.”

I believe we must learn to cope with a future when there first might be no jobs available for a large percentage of the population. Society will have the responsibility of sharing its vast wealth to provide people with the basic human right of food and shelter. If you must use the dirty word “socialism” to describe their situation, so be it.

Mr. Rundis compares what he sees today with the decline of the Roman Empire. When I look around, I am more reminded of the years before the French Revolution.

Advertisement

Jim Devine

Homeless Voices for Justice

Portland

 

I was astonished when I read the Jan. 26 Another View, “Obama’s election marks the start of America’s decline.”

Free speech and all of that, but this brief editorial offered no analytical ingredients, no meaningful criticism. I’m curious why the Portland Press Herald chose to publish something so empty of substance and something that really did nothing more than spew hate.

Advertisement

I think we really need informed discourse about President Obama and his policies, but this little political diatribe was an expression of ignorance and hate. Essentially, these few paragraphs were nothing more than an exercise in adolescent name-calling.

Michael Ehringhaus

Portland

 

Sad it was to read Dewey Rundis’ thoughts in the Jan. 26 Another View editorial regarding “Obama’s election marks the start of America’s decline.”

I, too, do not remember Edward Gibbon pinpointing a precise moment in time when the Roman Empire began its decline.

Advertisement

But I suspect that the moment in time when any society ceases to progress nobly upward happens when a majority of its citizens lose hope and join with the indifferent, no longer desiring to remain with those who strive to be part of the solution.

We especially who are in the autumn of our lives have many blessings to count thankfully for all this blessed nation has done for us.

One cannot pay forward those same assurances for our children by losing hope, failing to be grateful and being angry. Always we have lived in an ever-changing society, expecting much from those who have been so blessed to receive much.

Those who seem to be fresh out of hope and reason to be thankful that we still can be part of the solution are very much in need of our prayers.

Lawrence E. Merckens

Manchester

Advertisement

 

MCC inmates will benefit from prison improvements

 

I truly don’t understand people thinking we don’t need to improve the Maine Correctional Center in Windham (Letters to the editor, “New prison won’t address crime’s causes,” Jan. 29). I have friends who are employed there, and they feel it is overdue. So do I.

Pre-release programs do not work for all. Drugs will always be a problem, as will other lawbreaking issues. I feel that if improvements are implemented at the MCC and programs are expanded there for prisoners with a few more drug staff and education, perhaps some of this will help a few.

You cannot put these prisoners back on the streets, as they just fall back into the same situations. New programs need to be started and stricter release conditions set for prisoners who go through programs.

Advertisement

It’s time to update and improve the situation for all, and hopefully prisoners will benefit from new standards and programs. We could always put a few of the halfway facilities in Cape Elizabeth and see how they function.

June Watson

Westbrook

 


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.