“We are not divided,” says Mr. Howard Thomas in his God, flag, country, noble forefathers, liberty-and-justice-for-all letter to the editor, Nov. 6.

Oh my, yes. We are divided. Let’s designate Group A as the folks who hold and wish to impress upon the world the the views of Mr. Thomas. Then Group B designates those folks who hold and wish to impress upon the world my own views.

Within Group A, we find a very rich and potent mixture of the following: problems are not for solving. Problems are for finding the safe side of. Like the chicken in the barnyard, one dare not be different. With this emotional orientation, the concept of a sustainable future in prosperity and in equilibrium, with a living network of plants and animals, becomes an impossible, dreamy concept espoused by tree huggers.

In Group A, the whole concept of a future, or of a cooperative world, or even using government to promote general welfare, is dismissed as impractical. We have become a nation of Daniel Boones! The solution to the energy problem becomes a frenzied, but unnecessary rush to build more coal burner power plants, further dumbing down the brightness of infants” brains with mercury. All reform begins with the handout of ruinous federal gifts to those who need it not at all, while the tab is picked up by the taxpayer or impoverishment of lesser income. The rightist conscience seems not to exist at all.

The “reform” of Medicare and Social Security becomes another money grab for insurance companies and pharmaceuticals. To speak of deficits and the rapid slide into third world status, as a debtor nation, is to be ridiculed as an alarmist. In Group A, the search is not for answers. Instead, there is a continuous, sophisticated production of quips and one-liners to provide for the intellectual survival of non-thinkers. Secrecy in shaping legislation is used to hide the lack of purposeful planning, and to allow legislators the vehicles with which to hide the stains of bribes from big money, while they knowingly connive to give away the public domain in ruinous amounts.

There exists in Group B a thirst for knowledge. First, we do not need to reinvent the wheel. How does every industrial nation in the world, except the very richest one, provide for a comprehensive health program to all of its people? Now, get this; by the massive transfer of wealth at the taxing level.

Group B contains folks who are not cowed by epithets, like socialists, communists or dreamers. They know that we have already installed the alternative, which is 43 million people not covered by health insurance. When other peoples of the world let us know that, we should be ashamed of this fact. It resonates with the folks in Group B.

Enough! Perhaps now, Mr. Thomas might see how broad and deep the political chasm is, that splits the people of our nation. Can there really be a sincere desire of the victim to compromise with the pickpocket, whose hand is already on the wallet in his pocket?

Paul Bixby

Oak Harbor