Revolutionary nostalgia
Revolutionaries?! Hardly! The conditions for political revolution by collectivist ideologues are so remote as to render your ramblings ("New Radical Seattle," 2/24) inconsequential. The people and groups you describe are counter-revolutionary Neo-Luddites. They rage impotently against a very real economic transformation taking place that rivals the Industrial Revolution in scope and importance. Your nostalgia for the not-so-new Left is pathetic. The philosophically similar 20th century collectivist ideologies of socialism, national socialism, and fascism are old news. The gains of the American Revolution, the only one that ever offered an alternative to the Old World's legitimacy paradigm of "benevolent" rule, have endured and prevailed, and will continue to well into the 21st century, long after your "New Revolutionaries" are tired old cranks.
JOHN J. SULLIVAN
VIA E-MAIL
Radical shock
I am shocked and amazed by your article headlined "New Radical Seattle" (2/24). The picture of the "puppet" Bill Gates at the beginning of this article was ignorant and irresponsible. The Gates Foundation and Microsoft Corporation has done more good for the Northwest than any other single enterprise, with perhaps the exception of the Boeing Corporation (10 years ago).
Microsoft Corporation has contributed millions of dollars in the Northwest and beyond: creating jobs, contributing to the community, and helping people in need across the planet. To display these "radicals" and compare them to "(protesters that worked towards) civil rights, resistance to the Vietnam War, or peaceful fall of the Berlin wall" is unbelievable. If this is the "New Radical Seattle" then I am leaving town.
I am proud to be a member of the computer industry within the Pacific Northwest and very proud of what Microsoft Corporation has contributed to the economy and people of this area. I think you owe Microsoft and Mr. Bill Gates an apology for this "one sided" article.
CRYSTAL HEAVEN
BOTHELL
Berger, Bush, Bundy
The Knute Berger editorial endorsing (?) John McCain ("The McCain mutiny," 2/24) is the funniest piece I have read since Mr. Berger called for the formation of a militia during the impeachment fight. (By the way, what Mr. Berger wanted to prevent then was Al Gore becoming president. Does Mr. Berger still think that might require an armed revolt? Inquiring minds want to know, since there is about a 30 percent chance that Gore will be our next president.) In his editorial, Mr. Berger makes it clear that he is endorsing McCain because he hates that likable fellow, George W. Bush. He also hates Bill Bradley, apparently because he is not as morally challenged as Al Gore.
Now why Mr. Berger hates Governor Bush never becomes clear in the editorial. The editorial has nothing in it about Bush's tenure as governor, and almost nothing about his campaign proposals. Bush's biggest achievement as governor has been to markedly improve the Texas schools. This achievement, more than Bush's own words, shows what he means by "compassionate conservatism." It is compassionate to care about how every kid does in schools. It is conservative to try to improve the schools by higher standards and local control, rather than pumping more money into an ineffectual bureaucracy. It is cruel to advocate, as Al Gore does, leaving kids trapped in schools that fail them. And, as we all know, the kids hurt by being trapped in these bad public schools tend to be poor minority kids. Whether the sacrifice of these kids to the teacher's unions is also "liberal" I will leave to Mr. Berger to determine.
The objections Mr. Berger has to Bill Bradley lead to another point the Weekly has consistently ignored. The Clinton-Gore team broke the campaign finance laws on a large scale in the 1992 election and on a massive scale in the 1996 election. They rented out the White House. They raised money at religious institutions. They used soft money for campaign advertisements, a use explicitly forbidden by the law. Worst of all, they took money that has been traced to a Communist government at the same time they were making it easy for that government to acquire our military technology. You cannot claim to be for clean campaign finance and support Al Gore any more than you can claim to be against murder and support Ted Bundy.
JAMES R. MILLER
KIRKLAND
Politicians for sale
Thank you, Rick Anderson, from this Egypt Air 990 family member for printing what no other news organization had the balls to do, the truth about just how the Boeing company buys politicians through large sums of money donated to the political campaigns ("Some call it bribery," 2/24). And what a piece of scum this Phil Condit is for his remarks to news reporters in Washington, DC, "We would pay for votes if top elected officials would approve a permanent trade status with Beijing"; in other words, buy what you want, and if you get caught buy your way out of it—which the Boeing company does so well. And shame on Senator Patty Murray for accepting money from a company that through their lies could very well be responsible for the violent deaths of hundreds upon hundreds of innocent people. How many must die in this manner before someone at the Boeing company is held accountable for these lies to the United States government? How many politicians must be bought off before the truth comes out?
