Letter-Disagrees with column

Dear Editor,

Margaret A. Ontl's column in the Aug. 2 edition of the Star-Observer had some valid points, but her use of logical fallacies and name-calling overrided the sense in her editorial. She states "The most important position in the world fell into the hands of an anti-American, dare I use the elephant in the room term 'Marxist'..." Americans have heard this name-calling before and seen it fail. Use of slandering words, such as 'Marxist,’ not only lower the validity of an article, but also the validity of a person's intellect.

She then states that President Obama has "proven his passionate dislike of the Constitution," however she only gives one quote from Obama from an undated time and gives no examples of things he has done while President. This shows either a lack in research or a false analysis of the facts. She then states that President Obama's plan to "take America down a notch has worked." Again she has no evidence of the President's plan to make America fail.

She then states that a woman, Gretchen Donart, who was with the SEIU in Hudson, "attended the same Socialist Convention in 1983 as did then Columbia University student Barack Obama." Doing the math, one would realize this convention was almost 30 years ago and certainly irrelevant to today.

The next few paragraphs in her article have good points. She then finishes the article with a chilling quote by a then-senator Barack Obama. While the second half of Margaret's article was strong, the first half shows the weaknesses and bigotry that permeate throughout society. If she and others, on left and right, could let go of the name-calling and focus on the facts, we would have a better society.

I challenge Margaret to let go of the name-calling, the 'Marxist' 'Socialist' 'unConstitutional' etc. and realize that the facts are what really make an article a success.

David Kocik, Hudson

Tags: opinion, letters, politics