Old George had it right: Parties are destructive

Bill Clinton is concerned that the country is divided. Hello! Did he never read George Washington’s “Farewell Address to the Nation”?

The father of our country predicted that we would be divided by political parties. That is why he advised us to not have them. George was absolutely correct as anyone with eyes can see.

Not only are political parties divisive, they have literally killed our democratic republic form of government.

The representatives we choose to represent us in Washington are no longer our servants to speak for our interests. They rapidly become representatives of the political party bosses who punish them if they do not follow the party line.

It has become so bad that the man in the street now believes that our form of government is a “two-party system.” And thus we are divided into “red states” and “blue states,” having lost our identity as member states of a red, white and blue union of “United States.”

George must be by crying out from his grave, “I warned you. Why didn’t you listen to me?”

JACK C. McVICKERS

Scottsdale

Story on fallen soldier much appreciated

Re the June 28 story, “Family mourns ex-Tucsonan killed in Iraq”:

I would like to thank you for publishing the story about Army Chief Warrant Officer Robert C. Hammett.

I am a cousin of his who never got to meet him, but I heard many things about him and the great life he lived. I am happy to see that you did not make it all about the politics and that it was about him because it is not every day that a newspaper does that.

Most of the articles I have read all start out with something about the politics of the war in them.

HEATHER RUSSELL

Lufkin, Texas

Decades Theme Park would be good for us

I just wanted to send my support for the Decades Theme Park.

Phoenix and Tucson are two vibrant cities, and it is a real shame that we have to drive to California for theme parks and attractions. I love the idea of bringing families from Arizona and all across the nations to see how great Arizona is.

I greatly support this theme park and hope it will be built in Pinal County.

AMY MADISON

Chandler

These letters appear online only in the Tucson Citizen.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 21st, 2008 at 12:00 am and is filed under Opinion. Tags for this post: Editorials, Opinion-Editorials. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.