Why tax fruits of others' labor?
This is directed to all who want to tax the rich even more. Do you have no ambition? Do you have no hope or incentive to become prosperous or to make something of yourself? What happened to your Americanism? Have you no foresight to think that you might come into considerable wealth? Will you then want your neighbors to tax you out of the fruits of your labors? What school in the United States teaches the pursuit of happiness, which is best exhibited in ownership of goods and property, properly earned by your investment in your labor and manifested hope. What happened to the Golden Rule?
You apparently have no ambition but to be idle and live off others.
JUNE GRIFFIN, Dayton, Tenn.
Spend gift money on Sandy survivors
Please give your Christmas gift-giving practices prayerful thought this season and donate the money you would spend on regular gifts to the survivors of superstorm Sandy. I remember all the volunteers and donations that came here to Chattanooga after the tornadoes and it made such a difference to our general morale. It is our turn to return the kindness, and what better time to do it?
CHRISTINA DOBSON
Rights will be taken one at a time
I was afraid it would happen, and it did, because Dick Morris had it right -- Republican malaise was directly responsible for the re-election of Barack Obama, leading to four more years of the unprecedented ruin of this country. Our rights will continue to be taken from us slowly, one at a time, so we won't notice. Because voters didn't believe the polls. This huge mistake was made by conservatives in November's election. We cannot allow this to happen again.
Therefore, I am renouncing my membership in the Republican Party. I'm not a Democrat, not a Republican, not a Libertarian, not an Independent, a Tory, a Whig, a Mugwamp, a Progressionist, a Communist-Socialist, none of these. I am starting my own party -- the American Conservative Party, and hope to win the White House with this party in 2016! Go ahead and laugh -- but there are more conservatives in this country than liberals. Just not enough of them got off the couch to vote this time. I will try to reverse that in four years. Stay tuned.
JOHN BERGEN
GOP domination mutes voting fervor
I got a kick from the letter of an area voter, whining that voter fraud had swayed the presidential election, despite over a million popular-vote difference.
There certainly is no drama voting in Tennessee, as it has been a Republican state for years. Only in a handful of states does a person's vote have a chance to actually decide the election. The only positive from this is that Tennessee, as with most other states, doesn't have to see (or mute) the mindless political commercials. While it may feel good to vote every four years, the excitement has "left the building." Think about it.
TOM BAKER, Hixson