Our readers write

Name calling wrong approach

To the Editor:
In last Monday’s paper, in an article covering the Reagan Day Dinner in Union City, our representative to Congress from the 8th District, Stephen Fincher, said something that should be of grave concern to every resident living in the district.
According to the article: Wrapping up his fiery speech, Fincher echoed an earlier theme when he noted, “You’re what I love about this job. The job itself is terrible because I have to deal with such scumbags. But this is your government and your money. It’s not mine. So pray for our leaders to do what is right and vote this November.”
What have we done? Who have we elected to represent us? This sounds more like the talk that would occur between adolescents on a school ground and not from an esteemed congressional representative, especially one elected by the fine people of the 8th District of Tennessee.
To call the people in Washington and Congress names — something I was taught in my Christian upbringing as being wrong on so many levels — will do nothing to endear Mr. Fincher or the people he represents to the others in Washington. At some point Mr. Fincher will need a consensus from these same people he called ‘scumbags’ to help lift this high unemployment district into a more prosperous place. Funding to finish I-69, make 45-W four lanes, and finish Cates Landing — all of which our political leaders, Mr. Fincher included, have said should create jobs — will require help from many in Congress; this is not the way to get that done.
All this succeeds in accomplishing is to create more division in our already fractured, polarized government and nation. It is important to remember that an eagle requires two wings to fly; a right one and a left one. If the eagle loses either one, it will crash to the ground. We need to stop the name-calling and the ‘demonizing’ of others for their political or religious views. We are not the nation of the ‘right’ or the nation of the ‘left;’ we are America, land of the Free and Home of the Brave, where it takes an eagle with two wings to keep us flying, proud and free.
Tim Brady
(Independent)
Kenton

Published in The Messenger 2.22.12

Print