Keith Burgess-Jackson, J.D., Ph.D.

To the Editor:

Let “The New Republican Landscape” (editorial, April 18) be a wake-up call for all of those blue-collar workers and elderly people who are willing to give their votes to the Republican Party. Those of us on the left have been trying to convince them for years that a vote for Republicans is indeed a vote against themselves. Republicans do not, and will never, represent the working and middle classes; they protect the interests of corporations and the rich.

In the 19th century, Karl Marx warned us about class warfare. What we are witnessing now is exactly that—an open assault on workers. Enough is enough.

I agree that we must not let this right-wing Republican Party dismantle “the foundations of the New Deal and the Great Society” or “liberate business and the rich from the inconveniences of oversight and taxes.”

MICHAEL HADJIARGYROU
Stony Book, N.Y., April 18, 2011

Note from KBJ: The first mistake the letter writer makes is to assume that there is only one basis on which to vote, namely, self-interest. There are many bases, including what is best for the country as a whole. The second mistake is to assume that it's in the interest of "working and middle classes" to vote Democrat. How is voting for economic stagnation in the interest of these classes? Democrats want high taxes and big, intrusive government. Republicans want low taxes and limited government, with opportunity for all.