YOUR VIEWS

The perfect excuse

“The Victory Lap” (political cartoon, Dec. 28) was demonstrably misleading. The vertical slope upward, titled “entitlements spending,” should instead have been vertically downward, representing our “social safety net” in very grave danger. The central impetus for the unconscionable tax cuts is shamefully obvious (and even more odious.) Republicans will soon have the perfect excuse to decimate the social safety net, a goal they have been working toward for at least the past 50 years. Read House Speaker Paul Ryan’s repeated pronouncements that Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are “absolutely unsustainable” and therefore must be seriously pared. Adding $1.5 trillion to our national debt lays the perfect foundation for such decimation.

It’s a plan, not an accident. The GOP is thrilled by the prospect of “debating entitlements.”

Frank Silovsky, Oklahoma City

Libertarians left out

It’s disappointing that “2018 could be significant for politics in Oklahoma” (News, Jan. 1) failed to mention the presence of the Libertarian Party on the ballot for the first time in a gubernatorial election in Oklahoma. The Libertarian Party has had a continuously active organization in the state since 1971 but was prevented from running candidates in many elections due to overly restrictive ballot access laws that were finally reformed before the last presidential election. No alternative party has been able to run a gubernatorial candidate since 1998. Not only are voters more open to voices outside the two establishment parties, but the Libertarian Party in Oklahoma will also run candidates for numerous other offices, likely even more than we did in 2016.

As the number of registered Libertarians continues to grow, we are well on our way to establishing the party as a permanent fixture in Oklahoma politics. Surely it’s worth a mention that a party advocating for individual liberty is on the rise to counter those two others that spend all their time advocating for more power for themselves.

Chris Powell, Bethany Powell is one of three Libertarian candidates for governor in 2018.