Thomas Franks

It doesn't require a conspiracy theory to recognize that President Obama wants to change this country-it was written in capital letters on his campaign posters. It is not paranoid, as Thomas Frank charges, to oppose this change ("From John Birchers to Birthers," 10/21/09).

As to Mr Franks specific accusations:

If you don't think that American educators are indoctrinating our children, you obviously don't have school-age kids.

The "birther" theory is not "widespread" as Mr. Frank claims. It is a distraction from the radical destructive change that the President is attempting to ram through Congress before he loses his legislative majority in 2010.

Mr. Frank snickers about a secret plot to march the U.S. into Soviet-style Communism. There is nothing secret about President Obama's desire to expand government into every aspect of our lives, to raise taxes to European levels to fund his schemes, and to end American exceptionalism by submitting to the dictates of the "world community" on global warming, nuclear disarmament, etc. A Communist dictator putting jackboots on America's streets is a straw man. Isn't the "Internationale" a more fitting anthem for such a President?

Portraying the political opposition as an angry paranoid fringe is a tactic to shut down dialogue. It is unworthy of our democracy.