Resolving the Split Between President and Congress
It was wonderful to read the Opinion page article "Divided Government and Governmental Gridlock," July 9. Although a lifelong Republican, I'm going to vote for the Democratic presidential candidate this year because the nation will benefit more from a government that functions than it would with an administration whose policies, though similar to my own, can never see the light of day because of a hostile Congress.
Government by stalemate of the type we have now and which the voters are so fed up with has its roots in the attitude, "I'll vote for him but I'm going to send ol' Charlie down there to keep an eye on him." This primitive and simplistic concept goes in a straight line to a government divided between the two parties. Hopefully the voters are learning from bitter experience to become more sophisticated.
American voters should treat the ballot as if it has only one square for president, vice president, senator and congressman and throw the rascals (party) out if it fails to perform. Mahlon J. Saxon, Charles Town, W. Va. South Tyrol provides hope
Regarding the Opinion page article "South Tyrol's Example," July 1: After 72 years the South Tyroleans will be able, hopefully, to live like South Tyroleans in their beloved mountains.
I wish the United Nations would have done, or would do now, something similar for the victimized Hungarians in Transylvania. In 1918 they were given to Romania against their will just like the South Tyroleans were given to Italy and the Croations to the quickly created Yugoslavia. They not only see their old towns and villages renamed, but even their family names altered - romanized in history books, documents, even old markers in the cemetaries. The harassment goes on and still Congress is considering a ccording most favored nation status to Romania. Dora N. Horchler, Philadelphia The MIA/POW cartoon
Cartoonist Jeff Danziger continues to amaze. His on target cartoons are sometimes only days from news stories that inspire his satire.
I particularly liked the one of June 29, "You don't exist!," which deals with the denials from the Pentagon that any United States troops were left behind in Vietnam (or other wars). The soldier in the drawing is reminiscent of cartoonist Bill Mauldin's characters of World War II, which appeared in "Stars and Stripes." His dog-face infantrymen also bore the brunt of the heaviest losses and went mostly unappreciated.
The political cartoonists' role is an important one. Through the ages, from Bruegel and Bosch to their modern counterparts, the caricature-cartoonist is intimately connected with the history of the way in which one class has looked at another. Larry Barbier, Cambria, Calif.
This cartoon was a cheap shot. The inference that our Pentagon is staffed with uncaring blowhards, insensitive to POW/MIAs, is incredibly foolish.
There have been five presidents since the Vietnam fiasco, among which was the "human rights" president, Jimmy Carter. Surely Mr. Carter would have forced our military to find any US troops held in Indochina against their will after we gave up and pulled out. Charles W. Morris, Richland, Miss.
