Abortion, genocide shouldn’t be linked
Re: “View abortion as absolute evil,” letter, Sept. 18), neither the terms genocide nor holocaust would be accurate to describe abortion, assuming it was some sort of plot, which I humbly disagree with and will explain why later.
Genocide is defined as the systematic destruction of a racial, ethnic, or religious group (amongst other possibilities), but abortion isn’t concerned with such things. It turns a blind eye to those features.
The etymology of Holocaust suggests burning, which I don’t think is what occurs in an abortion or the aftermath, unlike the horrors in World War II. And the comparison smacks of hyperbole.
Abortion isn’t some machination against children for a few obvious reasons. If abortion is meant to be, as Planned Parenthood expresses it, “safe, legal and rare,” then abortion should only happen in extenuating circumstances.
I’d also ask anyone claiming conspiracy — why would any group of people want to eliminate children from the world, considering they’re the future generations of any group? It’s counter-productive to anything, including the unlikely Neo Nazi plot abortion “might” be.
Abortion is a difficult choice and should remain an option, but not the default. That much I could sympathize with pro-lifers, but no further.
JARED COWAN, Sewanee, Tenn.
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Government spends money it collects
In Thomas Sowell’s column, “Tax lunacy revisited” (Sept. 19), he blames municipal bonds for reduced tax collections in 1921. Of course, this was just the vaunted free market at work with investors trying to maximize their return. If we wish to debate the tax-free nature of the bonds, that is another matter; I am sure there are arguments on both sides of this issue.
He makes a statement often used by those who hate all taxes, “… money that might have been invested in the economy were instead being invested in tax-exempt securities, such as municipal bonds.” Governments do not keep collected taxes or bond proceeds under a rock; they spend the money in the economy.
JOHN D. BECK, Ooltewah