To the editor:
I knew my letter to the editor regarding public pensions and the Tarr brothers (Times, Friday, Feb. 3) would strike a nerve in some quarters.
So, let me just say, as a liberal Democrat, I have voted for Bruce Tarr on several occasions, and I have the utmost respect for the years of service his brother gave to the children of Gloucester and Cape Ann — the utmost respect indeed.
I also believe they are both deserving of their pensions.
But I asked my rhetorical question because of just how ugly the assaults, often very well-funded assaults, on public sector employees are becoming all across the country as big money, right-wing corporate interests try to turn back the clock on the hard-fought gains working Americans have made over the last century.
Are there abuses in the public sector in terms of pensions and other issues?
Of course.
I, as a liberal, don't believe anyone receiving a pension funded in large part with tax payers' dollars should be earning more in retirement than they did while actively working.
It is a concept that is both repugnant and counter-intuitive.
But what is happening today, using some of those abuses as an excuse, is a wholesale assault on working-class Americans.
If these monied, right-wing interests can succeed in so vilifying public sector professionals and employees, how long does anyone think it will be until they succeed at doing the same thing to private sector employees?
The U.S. is approaching a major crossroads.
We have a major party candidate running for president, Newt Gingrich, who has called child labor laws "truly stupid." We have another major party candidate, Mitt Romney, who says he is not really concerned about the "very poor" because there is a "safety net" to protect them.
To Mr. Romney, I ask, "Why don't you and your photogenic clan try to live on what that 'safety net' provides before saying there is no reason for you to be concerned about the 'very poor'?"
I meant no disrespect whatsoever to either Brian or Bruce Tarr.
But, as people poised to have a fairly comfortable retirement drawn from taxpayers' money, I stand by my question because, as Republicans, they are receiving a lifelong benefit funded to which many in their own party angrily imply others do not deserve.
MICHAEL COOK
Porto Viejo de Limon, Costa Rica,
and Gloucester
