To the Editor:
Re “The Mother of All No-Brainers,” by David Brooks (column, July 5):
The Republicans don’t care about deficit reduction or cutting spending. If they cared about those things they would not have created an unfunded new Medicare prescription drug program that benefits the drug companies more than the patients. They would not have started two wars while cutting taxes.
The Republicans who are refusing to compromise are not just taking on President Obama; they are taking on the New Deal and the Great Society ethic of Franklin D. Roosevelt and Lyndon B. Johnson. They want to dismantle Social Security and Medicare. They see the socialist bogyman under their beds, and they want to kill it.
These Republicans are holding fast to an ideology that does not accept safety nets. They want to go back to the glory days of Herbert Hoover.
I hope that the president holds his ground.
CHARLES PLUSHNICK
Brooklyn, July 5, 2011
Note from KBJ: Have you ever read a more uncharitable letter? Surely the letter writer would not appreciate having his own motives questioned. Why, then, does he deem it acceptable to question the motives of those with whom he disagrees? Wouldn't it be more respectful to address the arguments of Republicans than to speculate about their motives?
