Open Forum

As we reflect on 9-11-01 we need to ask ourselves in what direction do we go and how does it affect our democracy?

We have an unelected president whose first order of business was massive tax cuts for the rich. Now his administration is determined to forge ahead with a war with Iraq which no one wants. All the while giving lip service to fighting terrorism, while gladly embracing Saudi princes who are the anti thesis of democracy and whose country is the cradle of terrorism!

If we wanted Saddam Hussein out of Iraq, why didn't Bush No. 41 do it in '91?

No wonder other countries can't understand us and we are hated in much of the world, I can't understand either, can you?

Paul Fiske

Aitkin

We are one world

The recent letter writers regarding overpopulation regard the U.S.A. as being a singular unit, where we can do as we wish without regard to the well-being of the rest of the world. A smaller part of the population, we consume and monopolize the majority of the world's resources. Hogging more than our share causes much resentment and an ever-growing gap between the haves and the have-nots.

No one has said that large families are not good people who are good citizens. Rather, so many descendants consume more resources than the rest of the world, at a faster rate, and that is not fair. And we do know that our Social Security system will be in trouble shortly due to more retired people than workers. But rather than increasing our population by 100 million, we must work on establishing a different system that will work for our population.

Anyone cognizant of world problems knows of the changes and shortages to come because of overuse and overpopulation. America is not immune; the Southwest currently has a severe water problem which will not diminish.

Responsible, caring thinking considers the world as our home and tries to conserve it and not indulge ourselves by overusing what we treasure. A billion people already have no ready source of potable water and 2.5 billion lack adequate sanitation. More than 5 million die each year from diseases rooted in air and water pollution. Population growth outpaces food production in most of the developing world. Some 1.3 billion of the world's people subsist on less than $1 a day, yet the poorest Americans have a higher living standard that two-thirds of the world's people. These realities give us a more imperative to change our ideas and ways. We are really one world.

Mae Erickson

Brainerd

Coleman on the attack

The story on Norm Coleman's visit to Brainerd shows that Coleman only attacks and attacks without ever saying what he stands for. In reality he stands for nothing, it seems. Minnesotans across the state (including a significant number of Republicans) think that Coleman is an opportunist of the first rank, who changes parties and positions the way most of us change clothes. Coleman has run a despicably negative campaign, which has never worked on Minnesotans. We want to know what you stand for, not what you are against.

Colleen Kounkel

Brainerd