My goal for writing a calm, balanced letter was to see if it would be published in our local paper, which leans right as The New York Times leans left.
The hyperbole in many of the columns that I find so discouraging is well demonstrated in a recent article by David Limbaugh.
I thought our fact checkers went out of business with the departure of our last president (who was laughed at in his U.N. address when he tried to tell them how his administration had such wonderful things). But maybe we should have them come back and review political columns.
Mr. Limbaugh referred to “inflammatory racial rhetoric” that is obliterating race relations. But everyone knows it was the black vote that put Mr. Biden in the White House and flipped the Senate. Doesn’t make sense.
And the “alarming ” inflation rate? The present core inflation is 3.8%, which is above the federal goal of 2% but hardly alarming. I bought my first house here in 1969 when the inflation rate was 6.2% and the mortgage was 9%. Now, that’s alarming.
Why does Mr. Limbaugh use such inaccurate adjectives? And then he calls the White House people “lunatics” because the federal debt is going up. That is just plain silly. The debt goes up no matter who is in office. It increased from $20 trillion to $27 trillion under Mr. Trump.
So. Am I happy with Mr. Biden? I am an independent voter. I voted for President Ronald Reagan twice and for Mr. Biden. Am I glad he is getting us out of Afghanistan (a withdrawal started by Mr. Trump)? Yes. Am I glad Mr. Biden took on the well overdue infrastructure bill and included Republicans? You bet.
Am I glad he sent the vice president to Central America? No. You and he and I all know that was fruitless.
Bottom line: I would like to see articles that teach us something about our current events. I think it is important to have two parties and the pendulum naturally swings back and forth.
But when a columnist characterizes the other party for “hyperventilating” or “breathlessly ranting” or calls them lunatics or their statements “hog manure,” I get discouraged and quietly close the paper.
John Gainor, M.D.
Santa Barbara
