It’s hard to tell how amusing Greg Theriault’s letter of Nov. 10, “United States of America: Born 1776, died 2012,” is meant to be.

He harkens to a time “where all citizens had equal opportunity to use their God-given talents, hard work and perseverance to achieve success…”

Of course he is referring mostly to white folks, as minorities were severely restricted in their opportunities, as many still are today.

That, however, was obviously the writer’s America that he will undoubtedly miss.

More interesting were his reasons for our “failure”: “class warfare,” which Warren Buffett proclaimed his wealthy class has waged and is winning; “loss of opportunity and vision,” by which he must refer to corporate opportunities of investing overseas and shipping jobs to China and India, or to the Republican Party’s “vision” of an America of the 1950s; “a poor economy” given to us by several decades of Republican trickle-down economics; “a complete loss of morality,” as evidenced by the unending list of predominantly Republican politicians and ministers caught with their pants down; “and a fatal tumor of a $16 trillion debt” (actually $15.5 trillion currently) propagated by $10.6 trillion of Bush debt, $750 billion sucked up since 2008 by Bush’s continuing wars, tax cuts for his rich friends and the drug benefit implemented to entice the elderly to vote for his second term; $2 trillion in economic losses from the struggling economy; and — oh yes — $1.58 trillion in additional debt from President Barack Obama’s efforts to revive the economy.

I’m confused as to who Theriault is actually blaming.

On the same page with M.D. Harmon’s typical “Gloom and doom forecast …” and the “Forward” editorial cartoon, well, I haven’t laughed so much in a long time. And Texas soon will turn blue!

Paul W. Dutram

Waterville


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.