Liberalism and environmentalism aren't boogeymen 

I was all set to write a letter replying to Gary Karner’s “Liberals succeed!” (Nov. 8) when I turned the page and beheld Jackson Minasian’s opinion piece “Put students before fish.” Faced with this festival of misinformation, I have to do a two-fer.

Mr. Karner: “Liberals” and “liberalism” are not catch-all descriptions for “anything I don’t like.” The rush-to-the-bottom outsourcing of jobs to low-wage countries, and the redistribution of wealth from the world’s poorest to the world’s richest is called “globalization,” it’s been going on for decades, and it’s not “liberal.” It’s corporate. You’re barking up the wrong tree, in the wrong forest.

Mr. Minasian: Spending money on the restoration of salmon streams is not a conspiracy by environmentalists to snatch scholarship funds from college students. For some perspective on your students-vs.-salmon argument, here are highlights from next year’s federal budget: Military spending, including veterans affairs and nuclear weapons programs: 60 percent. Education: 6 percent. The Environmental Protection Agency: 1 percent. We all look forward to your next essay on how many college scholarships could be funded for the cost of a stealth bomber or one year’s worth of subsidies to ExxonMobil.

Both of you: Liberalism and environmentalism are not the bogeymen you want them to be. It is a good thing for the nation that your candidates, and your worldview, lost the election.

-- Joan Carter - San Luis Obispo