The American Spectator

Reader Mail

Proud to Be a Canadian

10.5.04 @ 12:01AM

THE WAY TO LIVE NOW
Re: P. David Hornik's Ten Pearls of Jewish Wisdom:

Thank you for this new David Hornik piece. It was most enlightening and I would appreciate seeing more of his take on the secular application of Judaism.
-- Francine Rudd
Clearwater, Florida

TOBACCO ROADS
Re: Doug Bandow's Addictive Allotments:

Tobacco farmers subsidize the American government, not the other way around. As a tobacco farmer I make about $1 net for every pound of tobacco I harvest, the U.S. Government then rakes in over $16.50 in taxes. This has been going on since we were a British colony. If the government gave us the taxes they collect from one years sales, all of us would park our tobacco setters in our barns and burn them to the ground. They are offering me $8.

The quota system was devised after the tobacco companies starved tobacco farms in the first decade of the 20th century. Starting in 1904 Big Tobacco bought at any price all the tobacco produced and drove production and prices through the roof. After 4 years they stopped buying, their warehouses were stocked for years. Farmers starved. The US Government stepped in and started the tobacco quota system to provide price stability and stop the depredations of Big Tobacco. This same thing is happening now with pig and beef farming. The consolidation of the packing industry will again make it impossible for farmers to earn a living.

If you like to eat maybe you should learn a little about this industry before you shoot your mouth off. Our entire civilization rests upon 6 inches of topsoil.

Thank you,
-- M. Andreasen

As a conservative who supports the President in the war on terror, I am increasingly disappointed in his big-spending ways. The name of the game is elect economic libertarians, and that means we need to smarten up and play the game to win. Complaining doesn't get us anywhere, finding small government Republicans to support does.

Then we need to do what it takes to get 'em elected.

The president was never a small government conservative. His record in Texas was not one of government rollback. We should not be surprised that he is not acting like one now. Ronald Reagan he ain't. Let's go find the next Reagan in time for 2008.
-- Nicky Billou
Toronto, Ontario

FIT TO BE TIED
Re: John Tabin's Pushing the Kerry Surge and Why Bush Won:

Regarding your conclusion that Bush won Thursday's debate, respectfully I have to ask you, are you serious? I am a middle of the road moderate who supported Bush's primary reasons for invading Iraq. I watched the debate and I have watched the situation in Iraq deteriorate from this administration's lack of planning, and the President's insistence on ignoring his own experts who warned him this would happen without proper troop support. What I saw in this debate was a stubborn man who refuses to acknowledge the dire situation we are in in both Iraq and Afghanistan and who has consequently refused to correct his course. I am sorry, Mr. Tabin, but Mr. Bush did not win. It was not even close. If you believe he did, you must also refuse to believe the post-debate polls and that the situation in Iraq is spinning out of control. You and the President you support need to face the facts. If we are to win in Iraq, and get back to fighting the real war on terror, as a country we need to admit when we are off course and make changes. By refusing to admit we are bumbling this war, and that Mr. Bush bumbled this debate, you are only making it easier for me to start seriously considering voting for Mr. Kerry. At least he is willing to face the facts -- and this will give us a chance for victory in Iraq and security at home.
-- John Sheehan
Mill Valley, California

TALK BACK LIVE
Re: Easton Phidd's letter ("Quick Study") in Reader Mail's In Recovery:

Mr. Easton Phidd of Canadia, writing to Reader Mail, seems confident of his comprehensive view of the world and its future course. A man with a vision.

I think his plan to learn Chinese is splendid. He will be in an excellent position to exploit the opportunities offered by his forecast Asian Century. I'm told Canadians make excellent servants, being of docile and pleasant nature, and this cannot have escaped the attention of our East Asian counterparts.

Letter to the Editor

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