Moral high ground
Confronting extortion
Regarding “When bosses act with impunity, trouble usually follows” (Business, Wednesday): Columnist Chris Tomlinson got it right when he indicated that “the better question is, why did the the CEO of Amazon think it was a good idea to transmit the images?”
Regardless of whether or not he was being blackmailed, it boggles the mind that this brilliant entrepreneur (aka the richest man on earth) and married father of four in his 50s did not think there was a problem sending sexually explicit photos and texts to his girlfriend during a trial separation from his wife. The sooner the adults of this world begin to set the right example to the younger generation, the better. Otherwise, we cede the moral ground as parents. What was he thinking?
The National Enquirer obtained the images and threatened to publish them. Jeff Bezos declared , “If in my position I can’t stand up to this kind of extortion, how many people can?”
I think he has got his reasoning backward.
Ego Agbasi, Houston
Domestic drug lords?
Regarding “Notorious drug lord El Chapo is found guilty on all charges” (Front page, Tuesday): According to “60 Minutes,” we have our own suspected but less notorious opioid drug lords who head up distributors in the United States.
I wonder if they’ll ever be found guilty of any charges for their part in the opioid crisis.
Joe Vogt, Houston
Economic reality
Regarding “Green New Deal is red flag of left’s elitist bent” (Outlook, Wednesday): David Brooks rightfully criticizes some Democrats for their overreliance on government. These Democrats are overreacting to the “Reagan Revolution” of the 1980s. Reagan leveraged “natural anti-government bias” for political gain and made the American government (of the people, by the people, for the people) the enemy of the people. He used this ideology to advocate for the elimination of critical government economic functions.
Reagan demonstrated that it was possible to buy votes with tax cuts and use the ridicule of government at all levels to win elections. Democrats were as confused as Republicans and didn’t adequately object to this.
Now, after nearly 40 years of failed anti-government economic policies, some Democrats react in a manner that is equally objectionable. What ties together everything from national defense to food stamps is the use of the public sector to compensate for market inadequacies.
Americans can benefit from the great achievements of our market economy without succumbing to a socialist ideology that is every bit as dangerous and dysfunctional as notions of free-market purity. Economic reality lies between these two extremes.
Michael D. Gilbert, Houston
Name game
Columnist David Brooks writes that it is a semantics game to call this socialism or not socialism, then goes on to highlight how the Green New Deal will require the centralization of power over industries such as energy, transportation, farming, capital markets and health care.
Venezuela has done the same, nationalizing energy, food distribution, steel, telecommunications and others.
Call it what you want. It always ends up as a disaster, always has, always will.
Neil Ryan Kingwood
No utopias on Earth
David Brooks’ outstanding column on the Green New Deal eloquently describes the progressives’ desire for the unobtainable utopia and the long history of failed socialism.
As he wrote: “The Democratic Party is ending.”
Jerry Kendall, Houston