Letters to the Editor.

Ehrenreich's McVeigh

Once again, I wish I could write like Barbara Ehrenreich ("The Making of McVeigh," July issue). I have been trying to tell people that McVeigh learned about "collateral damage" in the military. Ehrenreich once again grasped a complex and horrifying social truth and illuminated it with intelligence and power.

This column should be assigned reading for all political leaders and citizens.

Carolyn Keith
Milwaukee, Wisconsin

I was very disappointed to read Barbara Ehrenreich's piece on Timothy McVeigh. In a society that lavished almost celebrity-like attention on this man, I was disturbed at the way in which Ehrenreich chose to add her own voice to the crescendo.

Did she think that she was one-upping the mainstream press by taking a different approach?

Does she feel smug and proud that she has been able to use the life of McVeigh as a stump from which to express her frustration at our government?

While most people in this world feel the need to try and extract meaning out of seemingly senseless tragedies, I cannot support her self-serving attempt to uncover the simple meaning of a logical irony in McVeigh's actions.

She makes overtures to the "potentially useful functions of government," and she recognizes that minorities are the "most common victims" of our federal government. But her critique expresses a brand of radicalism that does not seem at all in keeping with the views of The Progressive or most of its readers.

Wanting to fight against those views that marginalize McVeigh as "maniacal," Ehrenreich reduces the political difficulties of the last twenty years, as well as some very complicated problems, to a naive simplicity.

How helpful is it to praise McVeigh and conclude simply that the government produces warriors and killers?

Mass murder is the natural result of minimum wages, no unions, and missile defense shields?

What does it serve to sum up the meaning of the Oklahoma bombing in the idea that the government got what it deserved, it just got it from the wrong guy because he wasn't a minority?

The article is extreme in its views and reduces the complex journey of one man to the logical outgrowth of conservative politics.

Daniel Holt
Buffalo, New York

Among the violent and militaristic acts of the federal government that led to "The Making of McVeigh," Barbara Ehrenreich includes, along with Iraq, Serbia, and Waco, "the bizarre raid on the relatives of Elian Gonzales in Miami." Could she kindly tell us what the hell she is talking about?

Richard B. Du Boff
Haverford, Pennsylvania

Add Another Artist to Zinn's List

In his article "Artists of Resistance" (July issue), Howard Zinn does his usual excellent job of calling attention to the horrors of war as seen through the eyes of the artistic community. While his many and useful quotes speak to numerous aspects of war, he neglects one that is a constant throughout the history of war: hypocrisy.

I would like to add a few lines from Siegfried Sassoon, a soldier poet of World War I, which unmask the cowardice lurking behind exhortations to patriotism and loyalty:

   You smug-faced crowds with kindling eye
   Who cheer when soldier lads march by,
   Sneak home and pray you'll never know
   The hell where youth and laughter go.
Thomas A. Comeau
Lemon Grove, California

Canada Is Becoming a Police State

The massive protest mounted in Quebec City at the Free Trade of the Americas Summit was correctly relished by Sarah Anderson ("Revelry in Quebec," June issue) as a sign of escalating public opposition to the corporate agenda for total global control. Sadly, for Canadians, the government response was more proof that Canada is becoming a police state and that democracy is confined to periodic voting for corporate-sponsored and media-promoted politicians.

The entire federal caucus of the New Democratic Party--the only national party in Canada to oppose NAFTA and similar trade deals--was present at Quebec City, among the tens of thousands of peaceful demonstrators. But the media ignored them and also didn't publicize the police brutality, which included the kidnapping of targeted nonviolent agitators by plainclothes police, the arrest of medics treating those hit by plastic bullets, the arrest of food providers, and the destruction of their food and belongings. The scandalous use of an excessive amount of tear gas was given media attention, but not the fact that some people were jailed for up to fifty days before being released on bail. The New Democratic Party has called for an inquiry into police actions, and M.P. Svend Robinson has filed a lawsuit against the government and police officials. He was shot with plastic bullets while peacefully demonstrating.

Martin R. Haase
Chester, Nova Scotia, Canada

Ridiculous Revelry

In her piece "Revelry in Quebec," Sarah Anderson writes of the "dose of vindication" she got on the streets of Quebec City. I am amazed that those so concerned about the economic and ether implications of globalization can find nothing better than street theatrics for making their case--in the process providing a stage for anarchists and other extremists projecting aims far removed from globalization issues.

David J. Steinberg
Alexandria, Virginia

Put Politicians in Prison

In "Prison Converts" (June issue), Jennifer Bleyer describes a number of formerly "tough-on-crime" politicians who have changed their views on criminal justice policy issues after spending some time in prison themselves. A large part of the problem with criminal justice policy in the United States is that people who make the policy have never been processed through the criminal justice system and expect never to go to prison.

Unfortunately, the policymaking impact of the new converts described in Bleyer's article is limited by the fact that their days of political power are effectively over.

Unmentioned by Bleyer is the large number of American politicians who have literally made their careers on the backs of prisoners by claiming prisons are not harsh enough, sentences are not long enough, etc. Yet when they themselves are facing the prospect of going to prison, they grovel and beg for mercy before the sentencing judge. Among the politicians who fall into this category are Fife Symington, former Arizona governor, and Jim Guy Tucker, former governor of Arkansas. All of which indicates that they don't believe the very lies they devoted their political careers to propagating.

Perhaps one formula for penal reform in the United States would be to require all state and federal legislators to spend a month or two in a maximum security prison. After all, many already go on week-long junkets to exotic locations supposedly to get a better grasp on policy issues. What better way to understand criminal justice issues than to experience it firsthand and mingle with those most affected by it?

Paul Wright, #930783
Editor, Prison Legal News
Steilacoom, Washington

The Arctic Isn't "Happy Propaganda"

In his recent column "Arctic Shmartic" (June issue), Will Durst seems aware that he'll be criticized, and he definitely deserves it.

The Arctic Refuge isn't just a bunch of ice fields: It contains mountains, trees, lakes, and a wide variety of ecosystems, and this definitely is not "happy propaganda," as Durst put it. In addition, some 10,000 indigenous people live in the refuge and depend on the caribou and the whole ecosystem for their way of life, and even for their survival. So if Durst is looking for a human rights issue, then he's got one.

Ramin Skibba
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

The editors welcome correspondence from readers on all topics, but prefer to publish letters that comment directly on material previously published in The Progressive. All letters may be edited for clarity and conciseness. Letters may be e-mailed to: [e-mail]. Please include your city and state.