A brief timeline of the back-and-forth letter-writing campaign: Ian Saunders' original letter to the editor entitled Letter: Chippewa renaming issue is symbolic of a deeper problem elicited this response from Scott Robertson Letter: In defence of 'woke' and 'socialist' school board chair. Saunders responded with Letter: On keeping discourse civil even though we differ and Robertson responded in kind with Letter: Robertson's counterpoint to letter from reader to which Saunders replies below.
To the editor:
I'm writing in reply to the second letter from Scott Robertson, which he has submitted in response to mine. Let me start by saying that I recognize that political labels are imperfect.
It's usual that we all don't agree with every position taken by the person or party for whom we cast our ballot. These political tents do, however, organize our collective political philosophies into manageable groups. They provide a way for a voter to affiliate with an entity which reflects many (but not all) of its commonly held viewpoints.
In Mr. Robertson's letter, I do hear overtones of "be reasonable, and agree with me." Well, I'm sorry but I don't. I will certainly agree that widening income inequality is not a healthy situation for any society.
For one thing, research suggests widening inequality hurts economic growth.
But now we'll differ.
Especially when I hear him state that "we need to use our public institutions to address..." Another program is not the answer.
Government redistribution fosters a culture of dependency. We need government to get out of the way. Stop intervening. It's hard for big-government advocates to realize, but people know how to spend their own money better than a bureaucrat does. Over-regulation and other government policies jack up costs. The poor are the ones hit the hardest.
To repeat what I said in my first letter, we'll just have to agree to disagree. There's nothing wrong with that.
One final observation.
In his letter, Mr. Robertson avows that he still thinks he knows "where the people of North Bay stand" Perhaps.
But less than 23 per cent of voters seemed to agree with him in the 2021 federal election.
Ian Saunders
