Much at stake in November’s election

To the editor:

The more I hear of the ideas and policies being proposed by the wacky, uninformed, cruel and uncaring Tea Partiers and their Republican buddies, I am reminded of the words of a pre-World War II German and am astounded how those words could be used to describe these ideas and policies:

First they came for the minimum wage, and I didn’t say anything because I wasn’t on the minimum wage. Then they came for unemployment insurance, and I didn’t say anything because I wasn’t unemployed.

Then they came for the health care law, but I was in good health and didn’t need it at the time, so I didn’t say anything. Then they came for Medicare, but I wasn’t old so I didn’t say anything.

Then they came for Social Security, but I was still young and had a job so I didn’t say anything. Then they came for my right to be paid for my work, and there was nobody left to say anything, as all those who cared had starved to death or died from lack of health care.

Well, my friends, you all have a chance to say something this fall to prevent a second Holocaust. But will you?

DANIEL OLIVIER

BULLHEAD CITY, ARIZ.

Which path?

To the editor:

The election on Nov. 2 will decide whether the United States continues on the path of free-market capitalism or joins the failed nations — including the Soviet Union, 1917-1989.

Even Fidel and Raul Castro say socialism doesn’t work. Look at the EU today and try to defend socialism.

But President Barack Obama wants to redistribute wealth. He has nationalized student loans and AIG, and the American people have been saddled with 61 percent of GM and Chrysler. In bankruptcy the bondholders were robbed to pay off the unions. The health care rip-off is an avenue to tax, fine and force socialist social engineering goals to redistribute income.

FRANK PERNA

LAS VEGAS

Just say no

To the editor:

Democrats are the party of “no”: No jobs and no hope.

They think if they raise all tax rates to the sky, they will collect more taxes. It doesn’t work that way. It will only further slow the economy. People will stop investing their money.

Then, in the new health care law, there is a new regulation. Companies have to file a form for every $600 they spend and pay a tax on it. They aim to collect an additional $20 billion from this regulation. This will totally destroy the economy.

JOHN R. GUNDLACH

LAS VEGAS

Good times

To the editor:

Yes, my fellow Nevada voters, the good and even boom times were with us for a period of 15 to 20 years, up until late 2007.

Sen. Harry Reid was there, working for Nevada all of this time. Now he is working hard to help return us to the good times, but he is getting little help. He helped save CityCenter, and all of the jobs that go with it, but one senator cannot work miracles. He needs help.

I fear that if the forecasted takeover by the Tea-Republicans actually takes place, that we, my fellow Nevadans, will have to wait many long years before we see the good times again.

FRANK HESS

LAS VEGAS

No work

To the editor:

Harry Reid, Shelley Berkley and Dina Titus have been constantly praising themselves for their ability to secure unemployment checks for their constituents. They never said anything about the day of reckoning, which was rapidly approaching.

Lo and behold, the Review-Journal’s timely article (Oct. 6) appears, headlined “Jobless benefits taxes to rise.” The three Democrats mentioned above apparently thought this information would not see the light of day until after the November election.

The state Employment Security Council has announced that employers will have to increase by 50 percent the taxes they pay into a fund to provide unemployment benefits to workers.

At the end of 2007, the state Unemployment Trust Fund held $803 million. That was used. Nevada has already borrowed $526 million from the federal government and intends to raise taxes by $300 million to repay the feds.

RALPH L. KRAEMER

LAS VEGAS

Won’t debate

To the editor:

I have to give kudos to the politicians willing to debate the issues so their constituents have a chance to hear their positions and defend their political records. Sharron Angle, Harry Reid, Joe Heck and Dina Titus have done so.

But Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., refuses to debate Republican Kenneth Wegner. You have to wonder why she is not making herself available for the voters.

So imagine my surprise when I read your editorial endorsement of Rep. Berkley, claiming, “She is a tireless worker who is available to her constituents.” That has not been my experience when I have contacted her office, nor does it appear to ring true now.

We voters are entitled to hear from the people we employ. I wanted to hear from Rep. Berkley about why she voted for bills she did not read, such as TARP, the stimulus, “Cash for Clunkers,” financial reform (not) and bailouts for schools and unions. But it appears that Rep. Berkley does not think we voters are entitled to hear her defend her record.

Rep. Berkley’s decision not to debate should make voters question her lack of respect for our rights as voting citizens.

CHARLOTTE KIFFER

LAS VEGAS

Matter of power

To the editor:

What’s the matter with Nevada voters? Don’t they know how Washington works? Seniority is power. They don’t really believe that ousting Sen. Harry Reid changes Washington, do they?

We have lost whatever power Republican Sen. John Ensign had. If we lose Sen. Reid, we will have the equivalent of two freshman senators. No power, no voice, no way to get federal money, and mostly no defense against the rest of the country dumping on Southern Nevada.

As a native Nevadan, what scares me the most is that the people who have moved here over the past 25 years don’t understand how important political clout is to a state with a small population. They don’t know that in the ’50s, schoolchildren were taken to vantage points so they could watch the mushroom clouds from above-ground nuclear testing.

Even if you don’t like Harry Reid, you must consider that if we lose him it will take years before we build the kind of seniority and power he holds. By then, trucks laden with nuclear waste will be rolling through the Spaghetti Bowl, over the dam and through the mountain passes that surround the valley. Just one accident, and the millions of gallons of oil that gushed into the gulf will look like a fender bender. Tourism will be lost. Not for the short term, but forever.

Angry voters should take a deep breath. Ask yourself: Is there anything you have ever done out of anger that has worked out well for you? In this case, your anger may be radioactive.

VICKI VITTORINO

LAS VEGAS

Two evils

To the editor:

I realized recently that I have never voted “for” a candidate. I’ve only ever voted “against” the other guy. This campaign is no different.

Harry Reid and Sharron Angle are both extremists, just on opposite ends of the spectrum. By Election Day, I’ll have to decide who is slightly less unappetizing and put a check mark next to his or her name and walk away with that completely unsatisfied feeling I always have when I’m forced to choose between the lesser of two evils.

Wylde Abandyn

Las Vegas

Tax plans

To the editor:

Harry Reid wants to give Social Security recipients $250. Nancy Pelosi wants to hand out more food stamps. If this isn’t pandering, I don’t know what is.

All this is possible because only 50 percent of U.S. citizens actually pay income taxes. Evidently, we are paying way too much.

The income tax is the biggest fraud imposed on us, ever. We need to eliminate the income tax and close down the IRS. The government has to be funded, no argument there. But, taxing income is not the way. We need a consumption tax where everyone pays, not just 50 percent of us.

That said, it also must be fair. To be fair, there can be no exceptions or exemptions. To be fair, there must be a monthly rebate to all households with valid Social Security numbers to assure no one pays taxes on necessities. A consumption tax would be paid by those in the underground economy and those who earn their income through illegal activities. A consumption tax would also be paid by illegal immigrants. A consumption tax could eliminate every known tax we presently have to pay.

Corporations as well as individuals would not pay an income tax.

I am voting for the candidate who will work toward smaller government and lower taxes.

That leaves out most Democrats.

Louis Phillipine

Las Vegas

Policy problem

To the editor:

Such arrogance. President Barack Obama is once again demeaning the electorate by suggesting that because we are going through difficult times, we are unable to think clearly. At a recent fundraiser he said: “Facts and science and argument do not seem to be winning … because we are hard-wired not to always think clearly when we’re scared.”

Give me a break. If I disagree with his policies, the message is that the electorate is either confused, stupid or racist.

President Obama is apparently unable to be introspective enough to consider that his policies are the problem.

Trudy Cunningham

Henderson

On call

To the editor:

I registered as a nonpartisan because I was tired of all the fighting between the Democrats and Republicans. I now truly regret my decision and want to un-register, even if I have to give up my right to vote.

We receive more than 10 phone calls every day. My husband has terminal cancer and tries to rest throughout the day, but with all the phone calls from political nominees and the various research companies, this is not only difficult, but impossible. Our phone rings constantly until 8 p.m. or later. Not only does this turn me off to all parties, my husband gets absolutely no rest.

There should be a “compassionate phone block” for all these calls for people with serious medical reasons. I can’t help wonder about all the other seriously ill people and how their lives are disrupted by these absolutely absurd phone calls.

Maryann Thompson

Las Vegas

Stand divided

To the editor:

I am a 31-year-old Army veteran and a registered Republican. I do not recall to this point why I registered Republican in the first place, but I can honestly tell you I have never voted Republican. For that matter, I have never voted Democrat, either.

All of the candidates have the same tactics of pointing fingers and playing voice clips of the other party and their rhetoric. The final product is a split government built on ideals and promises that even they do not believe in. It is easy to say that it was a Republican or a Democrat who has brought our country to its knees, but it is our own inability to compromise that has taken us down.

It falls on each and every one of us. In the end, it will not be a Republican or a Democrat who makes or breaks our country, it will be those who work together who make us great again. Those who stand divided will bring us down.

Patric Medeiros

Henderson

Who’s lying?

To the editor:

I noticed that reader Carrie Stanley accuses Republican Senate candidate Sharron Angle of “several lies,” but only attempts to enumerate a singular lie in the Thursday letter, “Lying Angle.”

With her academic background, I’m sure Ms. Stanley has good reason to believe that she is well-qualified to point out that she thinks it’s a remarkable lie for a substitute teacher to say that she is a teacher.

But I can’t help but wonder if Ms. Stanley “feels well-qualified” to opine — in any way, at all, ever — on Ms. Angle’s opponent, Harry Reid, who claims he was a boxer when he never even boxed professionally.

Tom Townsend

Las Vegas

Reid’s money

To the editor:

Geoff Schumacher either doesn’t understand or purposely misinterpreted Sharron Angle’s question to Harry Reid about his fortune (“Sharron Angle, socialist,” Friday column).

She isn’t a socialist. She didn’t question that he has money. She implied, and I believe correctly, that he didn’t earn it.

Mike Murphy

Pahrump