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Don’t like Churchill? Then don’t pay taxes

Rick Gustafson, Summit Cove

As much as I hate tit-for-tat letters to the editor, Chuck Abrams’ constant stream of letters expressing his opinions on the Churchill controversy demands a response. He would have us believe that the board of regent governance of the university system is aberrant when, in fact, almost every state has a board of regents. Though many regents are appointed by governors, Colorado, Michigan, Nebraska and New York have regents elected by districts, and Minnesota has regents elected by the legislature. Personally, I don’t want regents that are a political arm of a right wing governor. Most educators and citizens want diversity in higher education, both cultural and political.Mr. Abrams says he does not favor using the classroom to promote personal philosophies. Neither do I. But what he won’t tell you is that Churchill’s inflammatory essay was written for use outside of the classroom. Perhaps his status as a state employee should be the result of scrutiny of classroom material. It is a fact that this country’s globalization policies have killed hundreds of thousands of indigenous peoples in Central and South America, Indonesia, and the Middle East, as well as in the development of our own “great” nation. How many people still believe that Long Island was purchased for a handful of beads? It was supposed to be a trade port, not a colonization effort. Churchill’s attention to these controversial facts in his classroom is the reason for his crucifixion by the radical right.Having read Churchill’s essay, I know that the Eichmann reference was one of his more tame statements. I did not enjoy his hate-filled statements, but the fact remains that if they are written outside of his duties as a professor, then it is well within his rights to express them. In closing, I’d like to point out that my tax dollars are now being used to force feed an unpopular private accounts program on a public majority that doesn’t want it, as well as pay for salaries of leaders that promote torture and abuses by CIA and private contractors in the name of gathering intelligence. So if Mr. Abrams doesn’t want to pay the salary of a controversial professor, I have two suggestions. Don’t pay your taxes and see where that gets you, or better yet, don’t take his classes and keep your head in the sand. Oh yeah, I am not a Democrat!


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