Paper balanced, society is not

I am continually surprised by the letters The Herald gets concerning its “balance.” Do these critics ever really read the Opinion Page? I think that any paper that prints Charles Krauthammer’s ultra-conservative views every Friday is bending backwards to show a degree of balance. Anyone who sees the political cartoons on the Opinion Page would see that Obama gets his share of needling. You would have to imitate the Chicago Tribune to squelch the critics who cry for “balance” and the Tribune provided us that classic headline, “Dewey Defeats Truman.”

What bothers me is not the balance or imbalance in our media but how much poverty exists in our country and how little is done by Republicans (or Democrats) to alleviate the situation. We have become a plutocracy where the condition of the vast majority is ignored by the elite (let them eat cake) minority. We don’t need “balance” to see that the middle class has stagnated economically while the top one per cent has flourished. We get a balanced budget and instead of using the surplus to pay off our debt, we use the surplus as an excuse to cut taxes. We readily send our young men off to fight wars, but keep them waiting for proper care when they return. What we need is a country where anyone can be president and not those with the most money. I can go on and on but I’ve already exceeded my limit. Balance is not the greatest problem. An entrenched political class with safe gerrymandered seats is.

A.P. Semeraro

Mukilteo