E. J. Dionne: What Readers Taught Me

[cal04]

Boy, are we angry about politics these days. And that's true on all sides. This is a testament to our freedom, and it's exhilarating in its way, but it's not always pretty. It's the time to give thanks to the thousands of people who have written their passionate responses to columns over the year. Critics, bless them all, are good for your sense of humility. I learned from a reader from Boulder, Colo., that my "hypocrisy is disgusting," while another reader couldn't "help but wonder which elementary school Mr. Dionne attends." I appreciated the polite use of the "Mr."

Someone else wrote: "Your article is ill-informed or simply wrong on almost every issue it touches," which made me wonder exactly which issue I got right. That last comment was about the Terri Schiavo case. Few other questions aroused such passions. The mail was heavy on both sides, often from people with powerful stories about painful decisions they had to make on behalf of loved ones.

(snip)
When I wrote against the terrible, pro-credit-industry bankruptcy bill, there was an outpouring from fellow critics of the bill, including a number of Republicans. I heard from many forced into (or near) bankruptcy by high medical bills. "We are all just one or two illnesses away from poverty," one reader wrote. I particularly liked the suggestion from a reader in Denver: "If it were up to me, I would pass a law that said all laws being passed must clearly identify the winners, losers and the amounts involved." Memo to politicians: Revisit the bankruptcy issue.

(snip)
There is, however, one issue on which the country longs for a less polarized discussion: abortion. A column on the efforts of Tom Suozzi, a county executive in New York state, to encourage us to reduce the number of abortions rather than make abortion illegal drew -- and this is very rare -- an overwhelmingly positive response. There's something going on out there.


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/29/AR2005122900795.html

[Rose Siding]

1. 'I appreciated the polite use of the "Mr."'

:D Glad to see he has that in perspective. Dionne's great.

[yurbud]

2. that financial winners and losers bit should apply to WARS too--have GAO

do a study and say how exactly it will benefit average American, which corporations stand to profit and what they asked for from the politicians initiating the military action.