MB Civic

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May 18, 2006

America and the Fear Factor (5 Letters)

To the Editor:

Bob Herbert (“America the Fearful,” column, May 15) is correct in asserting the catastrophic damage that George W. Bush has done to our country.

It’s difficult for me to understand how roughly one-third of the country approves of his performance.

Iraq, Katrina, out-of-control spending, rising gas prices, large tax cuts for the wealthiest in a time of war, refusal to support renewable fuels research in any meaningful way, a culture of corruption in Washington, Americans pitted against one another thanks to the wedge-issues strategy of Karl Rove, and on and on.

What would it possibly take for those one-third of Americans to disapprove of this president?

Scott Ketner
New York, May 15, 2006
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To the Editor:

I got chills reading Bob Herbert’s column. But I’m not sure if that’s because the Bush administration, in trying to democratize Afghanistan and Iraq, is eroding that precious commodity here at home.

Or if it is because Americans are buying this hypocrisy in the guise of fighting terrorism and putting on the blinders.

Where’s the outrage? Why aren’t people taking to the streets? Where’s Congress?

Speak out, Americans; we have nothing to lose but our purpose for being and our values.

Deborah Kadin
Oak Park, Ill., May 15, 2006
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To the Editor:

Bob Herbert ends “America the Fearful” with this line: “If the United States could look at itself in a mirror, it would be both alarmed and ashamed at what it saw.”

The fundamental problem is that Americans can’t look at what our country has done without rose-colored glasses.

There are far too many Americans who need to believe that America always does what’s right even when we’re doing wrong.

We will begin to see people standing up for what’s right only when our citizens gain the courage to lift the veil of deception they have been looking through.

I don’t know what will cause that to happen or if it ever will, because it’s so much easier to believe a lie than to accept a painful truth.

Lucia Zeffirelli
Tucson, May 15, 2006
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To the Editor:

Bob Herbert’s column asserting that the Bush administration is made up of fearmongers is only partly right.

It’s the overwhelming and debilitating sense of entitlement that Americans have that’s the culprit, and the fear of losing what we think that we’re entitled to.

Even breathing the word “humility” is anathema.

Doug Weaver
North Hollywood, Calif.
May 15, 2006
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To the Editor:

Re “From Freedom to Authority,” by David Brooks (column, May 14):

Citing “Rebel-in-Chief,” Fred Barnes’s book about President Bush, Mr. Brooks writes, “Ever the visionary, Bush told Barnes that his interest ‘is not the means, it is the results.’ ”

O.K. Let’s look at the results:

Fabricated excuses for a needless and continuing (endless) war, an inept Homeland Security Department, the Federal Emergency Management Agency in shreds, cronyism, corruption investigations that are slowly leading to the White House doors, warrantless and illegal wiretaps, secret prisons, torture, gasoline near $4 per gallon, the outing of a C.I.A. agent — I know I’ve missed more than a few others.

The Bush administration has sullied our nation’s principles and reputation to such an extent that it indeed will take a visionary to repair the damage.

Paul Panza
Ramona, Calif.
May 14, 2006