| Throw
the crooks out!
I am aware that people are saying that the
current office holders are a bunch of ineffective
crooks beholding to special interest money and
need to be voted out of office. Will that do
any good? It seems to me that there have been
some extreme changes of elected officials over
the years. Remember Newt’s “Contract with America?”
The GOP managed to defeat lots of Democrats,
but did it change anything? Why does Newt have
to propose a new contract? What happened to
the old one? Eventually, the special interest
money wins out and compromises even the most
idealistic!
This all started with Lyndon Johnson. He wanted
to have his “War on Poverty,” his war in Vietnam
and a balanced budget. So he raided the Social
Security Trust Fund, and they have been doing
it ever since. Then he embraced civil rights.
That ended the days of the Democratic “Solid
South” and enabled Nixon to pursue support among
former Democratic conservatives. That has now
given us this fundamentalist bend in politics
where people like Bachmann (from Waterloo, no
less) and Rick Perry want to enact their religious
beliefs into law.
It’s good to be old, and I hope I die before
that disaster strikes! I was born in the first
year of the Baby Boom, so my benefits are locked
in so long as there is money to pay them. But
what about the people who were born in the last
year of the Baby Boom — 1964? They are not so
lucky.
Gary Thelen
West Des Moines
Ron Paul is not the right solution
After reading both sides, I agree with John
Hicks (“Your View,” Sept. 29) more than Matt
Storms (Your View,” Oct. 6). We could face a
lot of anarchy if Ron Paul was our president.
I believe that even Ron Paul, Storms’ hero,
would not fly in an airplane that had no government
regulations relative to pilot licensee or plane
safety.
We need government regulations in many areas.
The real question concerns the number and stiffness
of these regulations. Many people, myself included,
believe that if we had more, stiffer regulations
dealing with Wall Street and big banks, we would
not have the economic mess we have now. Think
about it!
Ed Rethman
West Des Moines
Name that crime
Please help me out regarding your weekly “Name
that Crime” challenge. When I’m trying to decide
which one of the six crimes each of these people
is potentially guilty of (but not proven), do
you recommend I come to my conclusions and judgments
based on gender, age or race? Or maybe there
are some other criteria I haven’t yet thought
of, which might be a better indicator of guilt.
Perhaps, a facial deformity?
Timothy Cooper
Des Moines |
