I am the subscriber your circulation department dreams about: a staunch supporter of the local press who actually feels a moral obligation to read the paper every single day. That’s why I’ve maintained a print subscription to the Journal ever since I moved to Winston-Salem. I have stayed loyal even as one of the best papers in the region has degraded into a barely adequate daily pamphlet. I have overlooked the glaring typographical errors. I have overlooked the inappropriate campaign ads attached to the front page. I have overlooked the replacement of substantive content with graphics and filler.
However, I cannot overlook your Nov. 21 editorial “Gay marriage.” Since it ran, I have been asking myself why I would want to spend my money on an inferior publication that would deny me (or anyone else) the basic human right to choose the person I want to marry. Why would I want to offer my support to an institution that doesn’t support my own right to equal protection under the law? I couldn’t come up with a good answer, and that’s why I canceled my subscription to the Journal this morning. It was a little painful for a newspaper junkie like me to take such drastic action, but my principles were at stake.
Maybe the Journal will rediscover its own journalistic principles someday, too. We live in hope.
DAVID GWYNN
Winston-Salem
Official
It’s official now: We are a third-world plutocracy.
ANTHONY J. VRSECKY
Winston-Salem
Fighting so hard
The writer of the Dec. 6 letter “Holding Out” questions why Republicans are “fighting so hard to put more money into the hands of the rich.” Let me explain it to him.
First, Republicans understand that keeping tax rates the same as they’ve been for the last decade doesn’t constitute a tax cut. The rich will continue to pay a huge percentage of all taxes. Second, Republicans understand that the majority of those who Democrats label as rich are ordinary people. They work hard, save their money and give back big time to the local community. They are pediatricians, accountants, small-business owners and two-wage-earner families. Why punish them for their success? Third, Republicans understand that the majority of the rich don’t have unlimited amounts of money.
Therefore, when money is taxed away from them, they have to decide where the funds are coming from. They can’t forgo paying bills and taxes. So they have to choose between decreased savings, lower discretionary spending or less charitable giving. The first two of those options have really clear negative impacts on our economy. The latter hurts those very people who taxes are designed to help.
Finally, Republicans believe that the American people are inherently smart. Accordingly, they believe rich Americans who own small businesses will be smarter than the government about producing jobs with the money. Given the latest election results, most Americans agree. They are the reason Republicans are fighting so hard.
SCOTT RHODES
Clemmons
Like anyone else
Cal Thomas writes: “The military is one of our primary national underpinnings. So is marriage. No wonder the gay-rights movement seeks to undermine both” (“In the open,” Dec. 8).
“Undermine”? Gay people want to undermine them? No, they don’t; they want to participate, like anyone else gets to.
These aren’t some moustache-twisting villains he’s talking about; they’re human beings, who feel the same sense of patriotism, the same sense of love and desire for commitment that straight people feel. They want the same freedoms that straight people have.
If Cal Thomas has to express his opinion, I sure wish he’d at least be honest about the motivation of the people he criticizes.
JAMES T. FULLER
Winston-Salem
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