S&P downgrade was retaliation Standard and Poor’s is right: Our national debt is crushing and the economy is a shambles. However, it’s their motive that I question.
I honestly believe that the downgrade was a tit-for-tat action taken in retaliation for being included in the blame for the economic recession. The folks at S&P demonstrated no more maturity than the U.S. Congress.
Jim Hall
Vienna
Community needs to step up for mentally ill
Re: “Money woes linked to area murder-suicides,” Aug. 9
Hardship is part of the human condition. The community’s failure to identify and respond effectively to mental illness early in the lives of the persons who later turn to murder-suicide is blameworthy.
The vast majority of mental illness is the result of failures in parental emotional nurture of children. When my three siblings and I were malparented in the ’50s and ’60s — to our significant detriment, as it turned out — there was nowhere for us, independent of our emotionally disturbed parents, to turn. From what I can see, the situation is no better today.
We need less bureaucratic outsourcing of “care” and more spiritually and psychologically informed solidarity at the private, local level. Involuntary commitment should also be used more freely (while still carefully) than is currently the case.
Conservatives have an opportunity to usher in a new era. I pray they do so.
Sharon Kass
Silver Spring
Current Republicans can’t hold a candle to Goldwater
The GOP today has many politicians who carry the Republican title but are no better than their Democratic counterparts. These Republicans, such as John McCain and Jon Huntsman, are deemed moderates.
But there is no room for politicians who compromise morals and values only to strive to be bipartisan. A true Republican is a conservative who holds steadfastly to his values no matter how popular they may be.
Every current Republican should purchase a copy of Barry Goldwater’s “Conscience of a Conservative.” The GOP would be better off — and have better-educated party members who know what true conservatism is.
Benjamin Zetts
Gaithersburg
Leggett has enough to do at home
Re: “Leggett, Leventhal head MontCo contingent to El Salvador,” July 23
It is truly a sad state of affairs when Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett takes a junket to El Salvador to establish so-called “sister cites” which this mismanaged county does not need.
A much better use of his time would be creating jobs for our legal local residents and working on improving our county’s failing economy.
This is just another way for Leggett and his fellow Democrats to seek more votes in pursuit of their left-wing agenda.
Al Eisner
Silver Spring
