OTHER VOICES
Conservatives and liberals
It’s not often I get a good laugh reading your Letters to the Editor but Toni Jordon’s “Conservative values” offered several minutes of mirth (The Capital, Dec. 12).
The author used about 150 words offering a biased view of “conservative values” and concluded stating, “conservatives believe people are fundamentally bad while liberals see people as fundamentally good.”
I find it telling the author offered not a scintilla of evidence supporting the position liberals see people as fundamentally good yet essentially condemned all conservative values.
The author made a common mistake assuming conservative and liberal values are absolute and exclusive. Attributing traits and preferences — and thus, personal beliefs and behaviors — according to an individual’s political beliefs is an invitation for rebuke.
I have many liberal friends who are moralistic, who value conformity and stability and are averse to complexity and compromise. Conversely, I have conservative friends who supported Obamacare, favor public sector unions, and think gun control is a good idea.
Though the letter offered a brief period of laughter, the sad part was the author offered only a biased view of the opposing side. The letter may have garnered more respect had both sides been examined. DENNIS McGEE
Arnold
Who is right?
It is with much humility and love I am responding to Ken Hoffman’s letter “There is no God” (The Capital, Dec. 5)
Some will posit that science is helping mankind get rid of superstitions that used to help explain what could not be explained. And God has always been, just that, another superstition.
However, everyone needs to also face this truth — the more we learn about anything — the more we realize how much we don’t know. But somehow we exclude religions?
Who is right — if everybody is wrong? Religions are part of the problems for mankind, or lack thereof, because we are not humble about how much any one of us know about the existence of God. The more we learn about God— the more we should also know about how little we do know.
These four questions can act for mankind — yes even those who don’t believe in God — as a moral compass. Everybody has to be included in the truth and love of God — or it didn’t come from God. We will be fine with the beliefs which answer “no.”
But we need to get rid of any beliefs which answers “yes” to any of the following four questions:
Does this belief contradict God’s love is for everyone unconditionally?
Does it ask you to do anything other than a loving act?
Does it exclude any of your brothers or sisters?
Does the belief ask you to do anything other than treating others as you would wish to be treated?
Then no more wars, no more pogroms, and no more ethnics cleansing. “Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8: 32 ALEJANDRO TAMARGO
Annapolis
School board
The new Board of Education is not off to a good start. Three members of the board, including two of the newly elected members, voted against the advice of legal counsel in a blatant power grab that has nothing to do with our students or our schools.
The purported purpose of voting to remove board President Julie Hummer was to give a voice to the voters who sent a message for a new direction. This was a charade. Even acting as regular board members, nothing prevents any of the new board members from following through on their campaign promises.
The desire to be elevated to president or vice-president of the board is based on ego only and that isn’t the way we should be running our school system. Let’s hope the new members and the newly constituted board find their way in the months ahead.
Our schools and our students are depending on it.
VINCENT GOLDSMITH
Millersville Editor’s note: Vincent Goldsmith is a former candidate for the Anne Arundel County Board of Education.
Military Bowl
This is an open letter to Andy Schmickle, who was chastising the Military Bowl committee for not picking Georgia Tech for the bowl (The Capital, Dec. 7).
They really did not have any choice since all the bowl games are tied to conferences and then the teams are already chosen based on the standings during the season to fill the slots for the games.
Therefore Georgia Tech could not have been considered for a place in this bowl game. Please reconsider your desire to never attend in the future. LARRY SEIDL Pasadena
The record stands
Congratulations to Bob Lewis of Edgewater on the 53rd anniversary Sunday of his important athletic achievement.
Bob was a first-team high school All-American basketball player at St. John’s High School in Washington, D.C., and played at the University of North Carolina from 1963 to 1967. He was All-American in the 1965-66 and 1966-67 seasons.
On Dec. 16, 1965, against Florida State University, he scored 49 points, (prior to 3-point goals) a school record that still stands today. He also has the second highest season scoring average of 27.4 points per game and is 10th in career scoring at Carolina.
The old saying “records are meant to be broken” may not apply here as some of the greatest basketball players in Carolina history (including Michael Jordan) were not able to top his records. Bob also played professionally with the San Francisco Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers. BERT and CAROLYN BIGELOW Edgewater
John Sarbanes
I am very interested in U.S. Rep. John Sarbanes latest foray into doing the public good with H.R. 1 on ethics reform, the first bill the Democrats will submit when the new Congress convenes.
Not to grab one of House Speaker Mike Busch’s jokes, but that stuff ’s been around since George Washington!
I am interested in Sarbanes’ desire to limit campaign contributions! Certainly, not a new idea and certainly in your best interest if you have the family ties of a Maryland Sarbanes, a Massachusetts Kennedy, or a West Virginia Rockefeller! Nice try John! But, I’m not buying it!
Point 3! With regards to Sarbanes’ No Child Left Inside Act, how about enacting the “no dad left unemployed act!” This one reminds me of Vice President Fritz Mondale’s ’80s quip, “Where’s The Beef?!”
And let us not forget Sarbanes’ dove stance, when our troops were in Iraq in 2006 and Saddam Hussein was still on top of the world reigning terror!
C’mon John. Let’s get with it! Shakier than an army tent without a tent peg! Let’s stop sending these Harvard types to Washington D.C.! JOHN REA Annapolis