Name-calling chills reasonable discourse

In response to Mr. Edhlund's response to Mr. Morgan's earlier rant, let me just say that insulting a person's intellectual capacity, whether he is a Democrat or a Republican or a tea party patriot, for that matter, is not the way to resolve anything. To refer to Republicans as Neanderthals is no way to start political discourse. On the other hand, referring to someone as an elitist because of his contrary views is no better.

Having said that, let me give you my opinion, and hopefully I can do this without insulting anyone's intelligence. Mr. Edhlund, based on your remarks, it appears that you might believe that anyone who voted for Barack Obama isn't a patriot. I looked up the word patriot and, according to Merriam Webster, it is defined as "one who loves his or her country and supports its authority and interests." I guess I'm not a patriot, either, because I voted for President Obama. However, I'm not going to challenge your patriotism because of your beliefs.

I would like to make a couple of points though. When you said "... simply saying Barack Obama is a ridiculous statement," what does that mean? Do you also want your country back, back from whom, the duly elected president of our country? It wasn't even close. He won by a large majority. That's one of the great things about this democracy. We have an orderly change of government every four years without any gunfire. Amazing. We take this for granted, but it's a phenomenal event.

I wasn't too thrilled with the president we had before the president whose name is so ridiculous, but I didn't think the folks who voted for him weren't patriotic. I just didn't agree with his policies.

Terry LaPlante

Schaumburg