What some find really scary

Re “Ron Paul isn’t that scary,” Opinion, Nov. 20

I agree with Jonah Goldberg -- Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) is not scary. In fact, he is eminently sensible. He also has a good chance to win not just the nomination but the election. Goldberg states that Paul would “lose in a rout not seen since Bambi versus Godzilla.” I wonder how he reconciles this assertion with the Zogby blind poll of voters of all parties, in which Paul wins with 33% when anonymously pitted against Republican candidates based solely on the issues and not the candidate’s name. It is amusing to watch some misguided people attempting to label Paul a “kook” for upholding the Constitution. If only our current president were so dedicated to doing the same.

Scott Frost

Kenmore, Wash.

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Because the anti-abortion Mike Huckabee allegedly strayed from so-called conservative orthodoxy on the environment and taxation, Goldberg considers him to be scary. Thus, Goldberg equates the supreme moral issue of our day -- the slaughter of innocent unborn babies -- with secondary issues. After all, if a candidate supports, or acquiesces in, the denial of the fundamental right to life to the youngest and most vulnerable humans, why should anyone bother to listen to them on other, less important issues? Suppose a candidate said, “I respect and support Osama bin Laden’s freedom to choose terrorism.” Would we then say, “All right, now tell us about your stand on taxation?” Would not a politician who used such wretched moral reasoning be unacceptable as a candidate for anything? Wouldn’t any candidate who supported the freedom to kill the innocent be truly scary?

Kris Sanders

Pittsburgh

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Goldberg wants small government, no ban on public smoking and an end to government “good works” using our tax dollars. Has he opposed spending hundreds of millions to ban private drug use? Hundreds of billions for Iraqi “democracy”? Or do his principles apply only to government help for those who want it?

Allan Stewart-Oaten

Santa Barbara