GOP VS. DEMOCRATS

My problem with the Republican Party is neatly presented in your April 30
quote from House Majority Whip Tom DeLay. He opposes slowing the spread of
AIDS through needle exchange programs, calling this a way to oppose "a
deadhead president that supports a program that gives free needles to drug
addicts."

The Republican position on social issues is loaded with this sort of
mean-spirited negativity. It's an "I'm OK, you're a pile of horse apples"
approach to things that appeals to the worst in us. Those addicts, for
example, don't drop in from Mars. They are our fathers and mothers, sisters
and brothers, neighbors, co-workers and students. They are as trapped in
illegal drugs as others are trapped in other drugs - such as alcohol and
tobacco - for which the politicians take bribes (excuse me, "contributions")
to keep available.

While the Democrats have their own brand of looniness, they do have one
distinguishing characteristic, and that is the compassion so glaringly
absent from judgmental declarations such as this last one from the gentleman
from Sugar Land.

I'm sure that a lot of Texas' middle-class converts to the millionaire's
party will lose their enthusiasm for the GOP when the economy slows. Then,
when they're downsized and apply for help from what's left of the social
safety net, they'll hear the DeLays scold them for being shiftless no-goods.

DAVID F. ALISON, Carrollton


Checked-by: "Rolf Ernst"