Faith often disparaged and other letters to the editors

Faith often disparaged

Want to increase your public profile instantly? Want to become the celebrity of the hour to a fawning media? Want to capture the attention and admiration of the White House -- even receive a call from the president or first lady? Well, you can! You don't have to save a child from a burning building, thwart a terrorist attack, turn in the names of local tea partiers to the IRS, club a mob of baby seal clubbers, or do anything for the betterment of mankind or the planet. For that matter, you don't need to do anything exceptional. All you have to do is utter two little words: "I'm gay!" Just ask football player Michael Sam, drafted nearly dead last in the NFL, yet heralded by USA Today as "the most important football player in the nation." However, if you're of the mind to be forever shunned by the media (or become its object of derision) and have the leader of the free world lump you in with those pitiable knuckle-draggers who cling to their guns and religion, you need only utter two other words: "I'm Christian."

REGIS NICOLL


Hart column misses the point

Libertarian humorist Ron Hart opens a column with the Margaret Thatcher quote, "The trouble with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money." By "other people's money," I presume Hart is referring to the more fortunate; last I checked, we don't seem to be damaging them very much. To quote Hart himself, "Free-market capitalism is a far more virtuous and moral system than government." Hart would have us believe everything private is perfect, or nearly so, and everything public is riddled with error. Here's a quote for Hart and his libertarian friends: "The only problem with capitalism is capitalists. They're too d--- greedy." Herbert Hoover said this after failing to convince the business elite to take some voluntary steps to help the country at the onset of the Great Depression. ... I submit it is manifestly unfair to complain about the public sector without at least a mention of the greed and need for regulation too frequently found on the private side. To quote John McEnroe (speaking about one of his fellow tennis pros complaining that the very large purse of a major tournament was too small), "How much do you need?" How much indeed, and is it ever enough?

BYRON CHAPIN, Hixson

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