Editor,
Regarding James Smith’s (May 14) letter about the importance of Carmel remaining conservative, his comparison of Carmel to cities like Newark, Buffalo, Camden, etc., is simply ridiculous. Carmel is young and suburban, has a relatively wealthy and well-educated population, never had any rust-belt industry, has newer infrastructure and has minimal legacy costs for public pensions.
To suggest that the complex problems faced by these older, often rust-belt cities are due solely to one political party is disingenuous (that’s a 25 cent word for “lying”). Allowing this kind of “sound bite” passing for “logic” is dangerous when people swallow it without applying critical thinking. Speaking as a fiscal conservative, we do need a wider diversity of viewpoints in our government as a check on the excesses of one-party rule.
From a social justice perspective, the need to encourage and respect the opinions of others is clear. One way to do that is to have some Democratic candidates so that the November elections matter in Hamilton County.
We’ve seen the divisiveness of one-party rule at the state and federal level. To think that one party has all the answers is just plain wrong.
Leonard Pasket, Carmel
