I am somewhat confused by Archie Richards’s recent letter (Monitor letters, Nov. 27). He first condemns “big government” (a bipartisan condemnation) for giving away money to the poor and then reaping the benefits to make “the rich” richer. Next, he blames “liberalism” for the failure of these “crony government dollars” spent on the poor over the last 20 years. To obscure this failure, “prosperous liberals” are now distracting us by saying America is “racist, sexist, homophobic, and militaristic” when actually these are “bigotries of old.” (So these policies he condemns have helped to make things fairer?) Finally, he scoffs at “millionaire football players” who are clueless about how lucky they are.
Let me guess: Mr. Richards is a heterosexual, white male who works hard and lives comfortably.
Is it wrong to call ourselves “militaristic” when our military budget is the world’s largest, greater than the next nine countries’ combined military budgets?
If not racist, how would he explain to an African American man in Boston that he is about three times more likely to be rejected for a mortgage than his white counterpart?
If not sexist, what does he call the realities of sexual assault and abuse?
Though “segregated America” is legally over (thanks, in part to progressive, sometimes even bipartisan, initiatives), we still have much work to do. Yes, I agree with him that many barriers have disappeared, but many more are still there; they are just harder to see, especially for white males living in New Hampshire.
GEORGE W. CHASE III
Warner