President Bush the true friend of steel workers

President Bush the true friend of steel workers
EDITOR:
I recently traveled to Washington D.C. with our local steel workers to lobby President Bush at the "Stand Up For Steel Rally" on Feb. 28.
Speakers at the rally included U.S. senators and congressmen from both political parties. The labor union crowd obviously cheered louder when a Democrat spoke. Being a Republican, I found myself a bit frustrated at the crowd's response.
I know that over the years a strong tie has developed between the labor unions and the Democrat Party. However, over the Clinton decade it appears that something has been lost. If you look at NAFTA both Democrats and Republicans voted for it. Bill Clinton signed it. Yet, the labor unions still blindly give their support to the Democrats, Why?
It seems to me that the Democrat Party takes union support for granted and doesn't feel it has to earn it anymore. Kind of like a marriage gone bad. Now think about President Bush's actions this past week.
President Bush made a tough decision which may have cost him some of his core supporters. He imposed a 30 percent tariff on imported steel for three years. I don't recall Clinton being brave enough to stand up for any industry during his tenure.
Perhaps, some of the unions should now rethink their reasons for endorsing only Democrats. Maybe they will recognize that like President Bush, sometimes us Republicans can be stand up guys too.
HOLLY HANNI
Boardman
X The writer is president of the Mahoning Valley Young Republicans.
Americans must guard against complacency
EDITOR:
Many thanks to a recent letter-writer (Letters to the Editor, March 3) for his courageous and patriotic letter.
As we sit back waving our flags and mocking Muslims for their jihads while conducting our own, our appointed leader's popularity grows, as does his belligerence toward other nations and the disregard he has shown since election day for our own constitutional freedoms and rights.
What, I wonder, would the Founding Fathers think of an America -- represented by a man most of us didn't vote for, who swaggers like a schoolyard bully just itching for a fight, regardless of the cost in dollars or in lives?
What would they think of an America in which the poor are robbed to give to the rich, and the giant corporations are merely another branch of the government -- and vice versa?
What would the Constitution's authors think of an America where freedom of speech is a right granted only to those who parrot the current party line, and those who disagree are labeled "traitors" and coerced into silence?
What would they think of us -- for letting this happen to America?
We know the price of freedom is eternal vigilance, but those words don't apply only to vigilance against terrorists or an "Axis of Evil." Enemies may threaten our safety or the conveniences we confuse with our inalienable rights, but the writer's letter reminds us that a far more potent threat to our freedom comes from within our own country: from within ourselves.
What we must be most vigilant against is our own complacency, our willingness to place our future and our freedom in the hands of those whose purposes would be best served if we weren't free to do anything -- except blindly obey.
C. S. SMITH
Poland