Letters to the Editor
Letters to the Editor The Taser Fad Thank you for providing the article "The Trouble with Tasers" (by AnneMarie Cusac, April issue). I am a police officer and member of Amnesty International....
...Phrases of hesitancy that we too often hear from Democrats these days-"lie low," "reach out," "come together"-are trumpet calls for retreat...
...They have no interest in actually helping women lead meaningful and productive lives...
...Independents now make up a third of the electorate and Democrats another third...
...I have held leadership in my union (AFSCME) and the Democratic Party...
...I am tired of being a political pawn of the Christian right and the "pro-life" militia...
...Workers don't have a party right now that speaks to their interests, and we need to build an alternative to the existing parties...
...An alliance of independent voters could change the way things are done...
...John Pierre Ameer Yarmouth Port, Massachusetts Honest Conversations About Abortion Thank you to Ruth Conniff for her recent article "Making Women Feel Bad" (April issue...
...But we cannot have that become a political tranquilizer...
...Labor was unwilling to give up its superior health benefits gained through collective bargaining for the lesser benefits that would have been provided to all by a national health plan...
...Please include your city and state...
...People who use tasers should themselves be afflicted with a shot from a taser at normal strength as part of their training...
...They actually talk about sex and acknowledge that it is a natural part of growing up, without dismissing the gravity of making the decision to become sexually active...
...The next is to urge everyone we know to do the same...
...In the first place, our active opposition to the neocon cult must be robust and loud...
...Instead of enjoying a national health plan, we pay more and more to provide less care to fewer and fewer...
...Labor was an impediment to the single most important piece of domestic legislation in the first year of the Clinton Presidency...
...Robert Richardson Santa Fe, New Mexico Pump Up the Volume I appreciated the gentleness with which Matthew Rothschild reviewed Rebecca Solnit's Hope in the Dark ("Recipes for Hope," April issue...
...And millions of public school students have already been denied those educational opportunities that would empower their adult lives...
...There should probably be a refresher course every five-to-ten uses, just to keep the pain foremost in the user's mind...
...I remember chiding my labor council for its resistance...
...Her message of encouragement and hope is indeed necessary in this perilous political climate...
...Letters may be e-mailed to: editorial@progressive.org...
...We can't have an open and honest conversation about pregnancy and the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases (STD) without admitting that people-especially teenagers-are having sex...
...In America, we give them a lecture on how they will get AIDS the first time they have sex, give them a Bible, and tell them to pray until they are married...
...After all, it is nonlethal, the company says...
...Thanks for balancing out the pros and cons...
...If we are to be a nation that promotes social, economic, and political justice, labor and the Democratic Party must rebuild and strengthen their traditional alliance...
...Tara J. Vasby Deerfield, Wisconsin The editors welcome correspondence from readers on all topics, but prefer to publish letters that comment directly on material previously published in The Progressive...
...April Smith Brunswick, Maine I am appalled at the use of tasers...
...They will be cast only where and when they are earned...
...Then they would have an idea of the agony they would be causing in using the weapon...
...While Stern feels that "workers don't have a party right now that speaks clearly and precisely to their economic interests," it is obvious to me that no party on the horizon speaks more clearly and precisely than the Democrats...
...Ecological disasters are staring us in the face...
...Solnit's book, unintentionally to be sure, becomes just that...
...Barrie Eichhorn West Chester, Pennsylvania Stern Words I enjoyed the Q&A with Andy Stern ("On the Line," by David Bacon and Philip Maldari, April issue...
...Our votes do not belong to any party and cannot be taken for granted...
...In the areas of environmental protection and public education alone, we are almost out of time...
...What we need is anger and decisiveness in sufficient volume to be heard and understood...
...An important reason that the progressive message is not being heard to the extent that it should is that it has been entrusted to the Democratic Party that has virtually silenced it...
...The author of the article did her homework...
...They may have to become clearer and more precise, but our grassroots hearts and minds are with the working people of America...
...Now labor and management struggle to contain health benefit costs...
...The first step for each of us is to ratify our independence by revoking our party affiliation...
...It is difficult to know how many Americans would subscribe to the progressive agenda since they have not heard it...
...One exposure could make someone think twice about using it on someone else...
...They are concerned only about our eggs and what might happen to them...
...Second, we simply do not have the time for "slowly creating groundswells that eventually lead to sea changes...
...Why does Western Europe have a considerably lower STD and pregnancy rate among its teen population than the U.S...
...She nailed it right on the head...
...If the millions of us who feel we no longer have a party see this as the opportunity it is and work together, we can get out of the political wasteland in which we have been left to wander...
...All letters may be edited for clarity and conciseness, and may appear either in the magazine or on its web page...
...Kent Hanson Everett, Washington Andy Stern is right...
...Western Europeans don't have backward, puritanical hang-ups about sexuality like we do...
...Gasp...
...If those of us who were dismayed-even outraged-by the Democratic Party's fumbling efforts in the last two Presidential elections can unite with the many independents who share our sense that these perilous times desperately require new leaders and new policies, we can form a new majority...
...However, before teenagers become sexually active in Western Europe, they are well armed with science-based, factual information about birth control and STD prevention...
...Clinton's national health initiatives were successfully resisted by both labor and the Republicans...
...The sooner we can start having an honest and accurate discussion about sex with our teens and ourselves, the stronger our messageonpregnancy prevention and good sexual health will be...
Vol. 69 • June 2005 • No. 6
