An open letter to Howard Dean

Dear Dr. Dean,

Your remarks at the Campaign for America’s Future yesterday were amazing. So amazing that I have to ask, do you have any idea whatsoever what the majority of Americans think, how they live, or what they believe in? I take personal exception to many (if not most) of your remarks. Let me just mention a few.

You said, “We need a new president and a new Congress who will fix the private pension plans.” And, “Pension plans ought not to be controlled by companies.” Are you kidding? The last thing I would want, and I think the worst thing for working Americans, would be for government to have any say in my company pension. That’s not to say that there haven’t been abuses by some companies. Still, I like my odds a lot better with most companies than with the government. So please, keep your hands, and your regulations, off of my money. Nothing good can come from letting government, especially a democratic party controlled government, anywhere near my retirement money.

On voting you made some very confusing comments, like “I think every single American ought to be able to vote!” Dr. Dean, I’m pretty sure that they can. All they need to do is follow the election laws, show up at the right place, and be able to push the right button, check the right box, or pull the right lever. Can there be difficulties? Sure. Are there systemic issues that can be better? Of course. Still, none of these things takes away a persons right or ability to vote. I have been voting since the 1976 Presidential election. I’ve voted absentee. I’ve voted on paper ballots that were hand counted. I’ve lived in precincts where I’ve been in and out in minutes and in ones where I’ve waited for hours. No matter what the situation was, I was able to vote. It almost seems as if you are saying that if the Democrats don’t win there must have been a problem with the election process.

But most disturbing of all was your comment that, “Republicans, I guess, can do that, because a lot of them have never made an honest living in their lives.” You’re kidding, right? I guess the question is what do you consider an honest living? I realize that you only said, “a lot of them,” so I’m sure you weren’t talking about people like me who work at an hourly job (and still make time to vote). Maybe you were talking about those who are rich and work for a large salary, but that can’t be it since I’m pretty sure that it’s not dishonest to have a high paying job. Could it have been people who have inherited their wealth and live on that income? Wait, that’s legal too. So, I guess you were just talking out of your hat. Do you have any idea who makes up the right?

Finally, I have to admit you did say something I agreed with. “The greatest blow to America that we have suffered in the last four-and-a-half years is the descent of cynicism and the belief that propaganda and manipulation will actually succeed in America.” The only problem is that you don’t seem to have the slightest clue that it is the left that have used propaganda and manipulation, turning them into a new art form. So, Dr. Dean, keep talking. Nothing could be better for America than for the left to listen to you. It’s one way to insure that the right will continue to move America forward.