In the past, my brother in South Dakota, a strong Republican conservative, would tell me how bad liberals were.

At the same time, he was getting Social Security and Medicare which, of course, he wouldn’t have had with Republican conservatives. In fact, the conservatives would like to get rid of all entitlements. They will, too, if they ever get control of both houses in Congress and the presidency. The main focus of mean-spiritedness and lies is against our president.

You can’t convince most conservatives that this would happen, but I know in the very beginning the Republicans hated these entitlements. Every once in a while, I watch Fox News with Hannity and Crew. One can tell that Hannity hates our president, but the guest he has on add to all the hatred and lies. I figured out that some of the people that work there aren’t mean-spirited as the guests that they bring in are.

Then there is Bill O’Reilly, where I think he thinks he is the smartest and most important person in the world. After about three or four hours of this and it has ruined my day, I become mean-spirited too.

Our president is mainly the only one out fighting for the working class every day. He does not deserve the trash talk that he gets from the radical right. I wish people could understand what they’re watching on Fox News and care about knowing the facts. I would feel the same if Fox News was liberal, but I would be able to sort the facts and my dislike for them would be the same.

President Obama has about the same approval rating as President Reagan after six years and far ahead of President Bush. I like to discuss politics but only with those that have an open mind, stick to the facts, aren’t prejudiced, and will not call people bad names.

Alan Shelbourn
Kingston