I am always amazed when writers such as Mr. Jenkins use their
religion as a battering ram.
Dear Editor
I am always amazed when writers such as Mr. Jenkins use their religion as a battering ram.
He claims that Bush/Cheney stood up for moral values. If Bush did, then any full analysis would say that Kerry/Edwards did likewise. All four candidates’ positions on social issues were basically identical.
Kerry and Edwards were against gay marriage. So were Bush and Cheney. Cheney, Kerry and Edwards did not want that decision to be made by the federal government but preferred it be made by the states. Bush wanted to increase the power of the federal government in the lives of the US citizens by making this a provision of the US Constitution. All four candidates were in favor of leaving domestic partnership decisions to the states.
Kerry/Edwards believed that each individual human should be able to choose their medical procedures, including abortion (within the Supreme Court rulings), which is Cheney’s position. Bush wanted the federal government to make that decision for the women of this country.
To choose between these positions is splitting very fine hairs – the only difference being that Bush was for more federal power over the individual decisions of its citizens, with the other three being in favor of leaving that decision to the individual (abortion) or the state government (domestic partnerships and gay marriage).
Mr. Jenkins claims that family, moral values, patriotism, optimism and faith in God to be the province of Republicans. How ridiculous. God is not a Republican. Surely, President Jimmy Carter is our most devout recent president by far, and last I checked he was still a Democrat. Bush is a Methodist. Gore is an active born again Christian. Kerry is Catholic, and was very active as a youth religiously, and has attended church as an adult as much or more than Bush. Edwards and Cheney are men of religion.
I wonder which liberal ideas Mr. Jenkins believes were shoved down Americans’ throats? Democrats were in power when the voting rights act(s) were passed. Is he against blacks and Hispanics voting? How about Brown versus the Board of Education decision made by the US Supreme Court (not Democrats )? Is he against blacks being educated? What about the 1967 US Supreme Court ( not Democrats ) Loving versus Virginia decision that said that states could not dictate what race one could marry, thus allowing Hispanics, blacks, whites, and every other color to marry if they wanted. Is he against this? Maybe he means the federal DOMA act of 1996 ( which was passed by Democrats ). Is he against DOMA?
By the way, just so Mr. Jenkins knows, I am a devout Christian, and am not a Democrat.
I am much more concerned about the out-of-control issues in Hollister.
How many more of our elected officials will be charged with sexual harassment before this community takes this charge seriously? How many more drunk drivers will kill and maim before we rid ourselves of this very serious disease? How long will 50 percent plus of the babies here be out-of-wedlock births before we start educating our youth and providing adequate free birth control? How many more years will we allow 25 percent of our community go to bed hungry each night? How long will we tolerate the gang problem here in San Benito County?
These are the issues I remember Christ talking about when he was here.
And, when will San Benito County have adequate parks and other facilities for youth, how long before we have water to drink that does not turn the glass white, and when can we not have to worry about flushing our toilets and overflowing the sewage ponds?
Mel Tungate, Hollister
