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

To the Editor:

Re “The Rejected Windfall” (editorial, May 10):

Part of the Republican governors’ stand has nothing to do with smaller government or states’ rights. These governors are using or creating budget deficits (as in Gov. Scott Walker’s tax cuts in Wisconsin) to crush public service employee unions and privatize public services—in effect, “disaster capitalism.”

If they were to accept federal money to repair infrastructure and create jobs, many of their ideological bedfellows and wealthy contributors would be appalled. It would be an admission that there is a role for government and that unbridled capitalism may not always be the answer.

CATHERINE ALLEN
East Lansing, Mich., May 10, 2011

Note from KBJ: When you don't have facts or logic at your command, use rhetoric! "Crush." "Privatize." "Disaster capitalism." "Ideological bedfellows." "Wealthy contributors." "Unbridled capitalism." This sort of rhetoric makes the writer feel good, and titillates the like-minded; but it makes no contribution to serious public discourse or to the resolution of public problems.