Bud Fink has written many letters to the editor of our local newspaper, the Carpinterial
Coastal View. From his letters, he seems a disaffected leftist, frequently spewing
vitriol at President Bush and anything to the right of the radical left. His
latest: State is on a slippery slope Seems like deja vu all over
again. Just over 70 years ago a man from Austria rose to power in Germany. He gained
power by promising the people the world if they just followed him. We now have a governor
from Austria who wants to disband the legislature and rule the state through propositions
which will solve all our problems with no sacrifice from the people. Is anyone else
frightened by this slippery slope we appear to be approaching? Bud Fink Carpinteria My
response:
Shame on Mr. Bud Fink for his promiscuous hyperbole in comparing California’s Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to Adolf Hitler. His comparison belittles and cheapens the real suffering and horrors inflicted upon the six million Jews and millions of others (gypsies, Poles, Slavs, communists, trade-unionists, homosexuals, Jehovah’s Witnesses, dissenting clergy, etc) at the hands of the Third Reich. Political discussion and disagreement is one thing, but to invoke the name of the 20th Century’s most reviled demagogue in a comparison with our own Governor is not only unproductive, it is crass and shows a disturbing lack of perspective.

MATT THEULE
Carpinteria

I sent my response to the newspaper via e-mail. We will see if it gets printed next week.