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GREENS NO FASCISTS
Dear Maurice. Re: The Space Cowboy and the
Green Party [Letters. Nov. 15]. I should probably
begin this letter by first stating that I am NOT
necessarily in favor of the Green Party; nor am I
in favor of Democrats, Republicans, Socialists,
Communists, and certainly not Libeitarians, who
I find by and large to be paranoid gun-toting
hunters who read nothing but Sci-Fi and listen
to Ted Nugent and Don Imus. No offense.
I *m, however, a pragmatist. Bearing this in
mind I'd like to point out what I consider to be
several gross inaccuracies of thought in your
political analysis... you can always shoot back
with a "mind your own business!" if you like.
First of all, don't you think that comparing
the Greens to such notables as Hitler, Stalin, and
Castro to be a bit much? On the one hand we
have a truly grass-roots movement which is cam
paigning for environmentally sound policies and
freedom from corporate governmental oppres
sion; on the other you have a group of fascist,
power-hungry butchers (at least in the case of
Stalin and Hitler). I would also remind you that
while Castro's motivations are definitely up for
discussion, Hitler and Stalin were hardly moti
vated by "noble" aims. Their motivations were
NEVER any more noble that securing the greatest
amount of power and influence for themselves.
Hitler was a psychopath who manipulated a
weakened and poor people to his own messianic
aims; Stalin was likewise a Machiavellian mega
lomaniac who perverted Lenin's revolution from
the hrst day he managed to scheme his way into
control of Russia's government; Ralph Nader, on
the other hand, is a man who for years has
accomplished numerous non dictatorial objec
tives such as putting seatbelts in cais and
making baby clothes less flammable. Which of
these things is not like the other?
You go on in your letter to make a number of
disturbing intimations that the Green Party is
against same-sex marriage and abortion; this
could not be further from the truth. In fact,
Nader and the Greens are very much in favor of
these and other individual freedoms. Ideologies,
both political and personal, are very tricky
things. It's haidly my place to state that your
point of view is invalid, anymore than it would
be for you to say the same about mine... but
come on, you close a letter about the Greens
with an allusion to Nazis? I would humbly sug
gest you base your opinions on facts rather than
poorly thought-out rationalizations. I realize I
don't really present them here, but that's not my
point; I mean, go read a book once in a while,
man.
Juan Stacey
NYC
GOVERNMENT. NOT!
Maurice Cobb makes a good point in his
letter [Nov. 15] about what happens when we
start asking government to do everything for us.
I agree with him that the Libertarian approach is
much better than the Greens on a range of
issues including the environment, the drug war
and Internet regulation. When you allow govern
ment to help with something you forever give up
your right to your own solutions. When you give
away your responsibility you also give away your
freedom.
Look no further than our national parks.
Who do you think allows our national forests
and parklands to be strip-mined, clear-cut and
dumped in? That's right: the government.
Tony Thompson
Metier. GA
I'm writing in response to Maurice Cobbs' edi
torial, "Greens Wrong" [Letters. Nov. 15]. Mr.
Cobbs has but the faintest notion of what the
Green Party actually stands for. He incorrectly
argues that the Green Party wants to expand the
Federal government, but this is untrue. The
Green Party supports localizing government, so
that towns, like Athens, can have more, not less
sovereignty ovei how they govern themselves.
He compares Green Party politics to dictators
like Marcos, Stalin and Castro. These scare tac
tics evade the issue, which is that American
cities are rapidly losing all of then public spaces,
and that our quality of life suffers without these
green spaces; most ecologists believe American
consumption of oil, gas and minerals is not sus
tainable (the U.S. alone consumes 85 percent of
the world's resources), and that something very
clearly needs to be done about it. Obviously, we
need to find a way to mediate between commer
cial and public interests. But public interests
have been taking a beating foi the last 20 years
at the expense of our airwaves (dominated by
commercial interests), air quality (increasingly
smog-ridden), our newspapers (also dominated
by commercial interests), and our public trans
portation (practically non-existent). Mr. Cobbs
uses the word freedom where he really means
self-interest. Yes. it is one's preiogative to drive
a polluting SUV. But freedom is a relative term.
One individual's freedom to pollute a river means
hundreds of thousands of people who cannot
enjoy the use of it. Personally, I would prefer a
little less freedom to crank up that SUV, to cut
down those trees and to pollute those rivers, if it
would improve my quality of life and mean not
having to live in a concrete, smog-ridden hell
hole. There is a moderate middle way. It doesn't
have to be either unabashed capitalism or a dic
tatorship a la Fidel Castro.
Anne-Christine Hoff
Athens
PAINFUL PUNKS
RE: Patricia Addis' vapid "where you sit is
who you are" [Nov. J5]: As someone who busted
his ASS for five years to pay for a college educa
tion, I take issue with Patricia Addis' portrayal of
the "dispossessed" pack of gutter punks on
College Ave. as having a "sad dignity." There is
NO dignity in eating out of trashcans; there is
NO dignity in assuming responsibility for an
animal when you can't feed yourself; there is NO
dignity in begging for money when you are able
bodied and young. Piercings are expensive, and
tattoos aren't cheap. Come to think of it, neither
are pit bull puppies... My point? Do not portray
the punks that clutter the west side of College
Ave. as dispossessed; describe them instead as
the garbage-eating, animal-abusing pains in the
asses they are.
Martin Rogers
Email
TOWNIE LOSERS
Thanks for the great story on the College
Square divide [Nov. 15]. I'd noticed this phe
nomenon myself—I guess great minds think
alike! Now if we could just do something about
those townie losers that hang out in fiont of the
Grill. Punk rock's dead people! Get over it!
Akili Smith
Winterville
THIS MmiM W#1L»
WE'VE rust RECEIVED WORD THAT
4,038 BALLOTS in MISSISSIPPI
MAT HAVE BEEN MlSPUNCMED
DUE TO THAT STATE’S COMPLICATED
"oRlGAMl" BALLOT--WHICH RE
QUIRES VOTERS to MAKE A PA
RER SWAM OUT Of their bal
lot BEFORE voting;
IN WISCONSIN, MEANWHILE, OF
FICIALS BELIEVE 2,307 BALLOTS
MAT HAVE BEEN AFFECTED BT
LOCAL VOTING LAWS WHICH RE
QUIRE REPUBLICAN VOTERS to
swallow A LIVE HAMSTER
BEFORE THET ARE ALLOWED IN
TO the voting Booth;
by TOM TOMORROW
WE RE ALSO GETTING REPORTS OF
TURMOIL IN CALIFORNIA. WHERE
NOT ALL VOTERS WERE AWARE OF
THAT STATE'S BACKWARDS DAf
VOTING REGULATIONS--UNDER WHICH
vo'ERS ARE ActuALLT SUPPOSED To
VO^ FOR THE CANDIDATE THET
WOJLD MOST LIKE TO SEE LOSE'.
\ /
AND THIS JUST in: MANT DELA
WARE VOTERS REPORTEDLY HAD
DlFFlCULTT WEAVING THE CLOTH
TAPESTRT BALLOT MANDATED BT
thE'R STATE S ANTIQUATED
JACQUARD LOOM balloting
procedure; citizens groups
call THE PROCESS UNFAIR AND
ARE DEMANDING A REWEAVING:
1*4 FAIRNESS, WE SHOULD NOTE
THAT THE NEWS NETWORKS THE A1-
SELVES ARE 8E NG CHASTISED
FOR THEIR ELECTION NIGHT DE
CLARATION that ALABAMA
VOTERS ‘MIGHT AS WELL JUST
STAT HOME BECAUSE NO ONE
CARES WHAT TOU THINK ANYWAY' ’
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