Mr. Nixon’s letter describing the Republican Party’s role of defending individual rights and government limits rang hollow to me. Whose rights were being protected when the Republican Party entered into the Iraq war and neglected to notice the abuses of Wall Street? Are you really so naïve as to believe those empty Bush references to “freedom” patriotically being peddled to the American public as a way to have individuals buy into corporatist policy? Those actions had corporations and cronies in mind, but certainly not individuals like you and me.
Whatever your definition of democracy or republic, the fact is there have been many changes fought and won by politicians that were considered the “progressive invectives” of the day. When I watched the Ken Burns National Parks documentary, I found it enlightening to discover that much of the battles to create our national park system are quite similar to the health care debate: distrust of government control, and a refusal to let go of profiteering potential, in that case of the most beautiful land in our country. I believe it’s safe to say that as a whole our national park system is one of our country’s greatest treasures. Other “progressive invectives” that come to mind are civil rights and medicare. These initiatives (NOT invectives) have made some of the most positive changes in our country in the last 50 years. They faced the same battles of that Republican mindset, and yet the majority rule was able to prevail.
As we have now discovered the fundamental difference in the health care debate rests with the premise that Republicans do not want government control in any part of health care reform, we need to remind ourselves that had that sort of thinking been the dominant party in the debates about our national parks, civil rights and health care coverage for seniors, our country would have suffered terrific blows to progress. From where I sit, I believe this distrust of government control, largely concocted by the Republican Party, is a thinly veiled maneuver to support corporate interests at the expense of individuals.
Jennie Knapp, Kirkland
