Mark Gaffney, vice president of the Ohio University College Democrats, began his incoherent piece in the Feb. 10 edition of The Post with Democrats
let's live in the present. However, he should have begun his letter with Democrats let's live in reality.
Gaffney wrote (President) Bush is targeting 150 government programs because he can't manage our money. If Gaffney is concerned, as most liberals are, about the elimination of those programs, he does not have much to worry about. According to a Wall Street Journal editorial, Last year's budget likewise proposed terminating 65 programs but only five were actually ended.
With that in mind, there is no doubt that Bush -much to my disappointment -has been a big spender, aside from the amount spent on defense -which, by the way, was the original purpose for the federal government. I am glad that Gaffney, however, as a Democrat, acknowledges that the government does not wisely spend and manage taxpayers' money. Finally, a liberal admits it.
Gaffney also harshly criticized Ohio Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell and his voter-suppression tactics such as disqualifying voter registration forms because of the thickness of the paper on which the forms were printed.
What Gaffney failed to mention was if a person's registration form was rejected because of the incorrect thickness of the paper, he or she was sent a new registration form of the proper thickness by the Secretary of State's office. They were still given the opportunity to vote.
Speaking of Ohio, I agree with Gaffney's assessment of our current economic condition; it is dismal. And, I place a great deal of blame for that at the feet of state Republicans.
In regard to Iraq, Gaffney wrote Freedom is NOT being subjected to the military forces of an occupying country. I don't think Gaffney and many others in the Democratic Party have the first clue as to what freedom really means. But do not take my word for it. Ask people in the former South Vietnam, Nicaragua, Kuwait and now, Iraq.
And what kind of occupiers does Gaffney think we are? Does he equate the United States with Nazi Germany? Are we lining up Iraqis against walls and shooting them or taking innocent Iraqis and putting them in gas chambers? Would a true occupying country allow the first free election in Iraq in 50 years?
Gaffney concluded with a statement directed at the College Republicans, of which I am not a member, saying, don't worry so much about the future of my party. I'm excited enough for both of us... one can hardly blame (Republicans) for living in the past.
I am confused. Gaffney wants Democrats to live in the present, though he writes a letter focusing only on past issues and then encourages Democrats to look toward the future, but he gives no indication of what that future should be. It is Gaffney and his fellow Democrats who are living in the past, not Republicans. His letter proves it.
Gaffney attacked Mike Wilson, an anti-Michael-Moore filmmaker, whom the College Republicans invited here to speak. Though I found Wilson's speech distasteful and boring, Gaffney criticized him for not having one solid point
let alone 'a thesis.' Well, neither did his letter.
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