To the Readers' Forum:
This is in answer to the letter that appeared entitled ''Proud to Be An American.'' I shall respond to each of the author's comments:
''On election day, Americans voted both popularly and electorally for equality and scientific progress'' ... does this mean wealth distribution? - forcing people to buy health insurance? - forcing Catholic universities to finance birth control?
(Voted for) - ''a fair tax system that doesn't favor the very rich'' - wealthy people pay the lion's share of the nation's taxes and 50 percent of us don't pay any.
(Voted for) - ''an improving economy'' - if our economy is improving, I'd hate to see one that's declining!
(Voted for) - ''a solid handle on foreign affairs.'' Does this mean leaving an ambassador and three other brave Americans to die after they kept begging for help?
''I guess conservatives will have to wait at least another four years for their 'small' government that regulates.'' Yes, we conservatives dislike big government because what the government finances, it controls and freedom is lost.
(Government regulates/limits) - ''important stem cell research.'' It is my understanding that this research doesn't have to use fetuses, which conservatives object to.
(Government actively blocks - ) ''gay marriage.'' Many conservatives approve of civil unions, but marriage, by definition, is between a man and a woman.
(Government controls) ''what women can do with their bodies.'' A woman's body houses another human being for a very short time. Abortion snuffs out a life.
(Government ''gives hundreds of billions of tax revenue to the personal bank accounts of the rich.'') I doubt this, but if the ''feds'' would stay out of the banking business it couldn't happen.
(Government) ''actively limits funds to public education.'' This is an area traditionally headed by local and state governments. Our test scores have slipped drastically since the federal government stepped in.
(Government) ''forces science teachers to pretend that the myth of creation is science.'' For decades, only evolution was taught to explain our existence. Specific creation was added to the curriculum so that students could consider both.
There is a song that goes ''I'm proud to be an American where at least I know I'm free.'' Which will it be - ''free stuff or freedom?''
Mary Lou Giles
Falconer