Dear Editor,

There is nothing new or unusual about provocative and exaggerated statements in Bill Atwood's columns. In the Aug. 16 edition he stated, "The other party (meaning Republican) sees the Constitution in a more rigid manner that must be adhered to with the original intent of the authors of the document."

Gee, their original intent was that only white, property owning, males could vote. Another of their original intents was that slavery was okay to leave in place. Another of those original intents was to count each slave as three-fifths of a person for representation purposes.

All that being said, they gave us a great document, the result of great compromises, that has enabled us to continue forming that "more perfect union."

We owe them our gratitude for also giving us some flexibility to adapt to the realities of a changing world.

Republicans have a solid history of wanting to take society backwards, but I don't know of any Republican, except perhaps Atwood, that wants to take such a giant step back to the "original intent."

Ed Bailey, Oakhurst