[Peace-discuss] Fwd: My editorial

[Jay Mittenthal]

>Date: Wed, 6 Nov 2002 19:23:48 -0600
>From: "Robin E. Mittenthal" <mittenth at uiuc.edu>
>Subject: My editorial
>To: hikers at scican.net, mitten at uiuc.edu
>Reply-To: mittenth at uiuc.edu
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>
>Dear Mom and Dad,
>   An attempt at a letter to the editor that I just wrote for
>the News-Gazette:
>
>    Why do people whose lives are impoverished by Republican
>elected officials routinely come out to vote for
>Republicans?  When I was younger, I didn't understand it, but
>I think I do now.  Classic Republican messages -- about
>reducing taxes, helping farmers, freeing businesses from
>cumbersome regulations, and other such high-sounding goals --
>only stink when you read the fine print.  Then, you see that
>the agenda is about reducing taxes for the wealthy, giving
>subsidies to large corporate farms that don't need help, and
>freeing businesses from oh-so-pesky regulations having to do
>with working hours, working conditions, wages and benefits,
>etc.
>    Lest I enrage all Republican voters, I have to say that
>very few Democrats have done better in recent years, and
>there are some Republican officials I respect to whom the
>word "conservative" means more than "keep as much wealth as
>possible for the fewest people."
>    Did I vote?  Yep.  Did I like my choices?  Nope.  There's
>an old saying in Kenya: "When two elephants fight, it is the
>grass that loses."  That's what happened on Tuesday.