COLUMN: Missed the part about equality

Yes Mr. Purtee, it certainly is a confusing world and you certainly are confused by it, as was amply demonstrated in your “My Turn,” a ranging screed the unraveling of which would take much deeper thought than was applied to the writing of it. It’s a pretty big blanket of condemnation you cast over our culture.

I feel for you. It’s easy to lose perspective and lash out, but your piece does little to clarify anything other than how frustrated and confused you are by all of it. Confused about equality, confused about morality, confused about who exactly is taking advantage of whom, about who has earned what, and by the sweat of whose brow in this great country.

There are a couple of things you got right though. We’re happy to have immigrants who keep their mouths shut, don’t vote and do all the dirty work. Whether that’s a moral view is definitely part of the conversation. And at one time in this country we did understand that a subsidized college education was good for the country as a whole, made us all smarter, with more capacity to do more useful things. Too many people who benefited from those subsidies are all too willing to deny them to others.

This country is at its best when we promote strong education, equal opportunity, and equal treatment under the law. The history of this nation has been the struggle to actualize those values here, while promoting them in a larger world. It’s a worthy struggle Mr. Purtee. Don’t give up on it.

STEPHEN D. BRUNO

Coeur d’Alene