I sympathize with Alan Jackson’s sense that the world of the white male edging ever-nearer to late middle age is sensibly moving out of reach. But I do not believe he can present an intellectual reason to think of Tom Driscoll as either a proximate or ultimate cause of his disease.

Mr. Jackson’s civic sense is roused when he reads of protests, especially when he reads of damage done to public and private property. So does every citizen who expects a public response to crime. But no citizen will cry woe and whoa when citizens exercise their First Amendment rights to assemble, to protest, to petition their government for proper change in the relationship of government to governed. It is a most precious bit of the Constitution since 1791.

As well, each reader noted that Mr. Jackson used his letter to protest against others. And in his note that “viable healthcare for all” is a public good, he stands with the protesters who caused some Republican members of Congress to check again what “for the good of all” really means when looking at the Affordable Care Act.

Lastly, I suggest that Mr. Jackson read up on changes in Ferguson, Missouri, as a result of protests on behalf of the least of them.

Mike Hattrick

Poulsbo