Letters

It was immensely refreshing to find two readers taking Carlos Sandoval to task for his recent opinion piece [“The Ballot And The Boogeyman,” Vistas, Opinion, November 11]. His reasoning and verbal gymnastics in support of critical race theory and the 1619 Project borders on contortionism.

I was personally disgusted after reading the piece but did not want to waste another effort in response, only to be rejected because of lack of column space, advertising space limitations and the discretionary sensibilities of the editor. As Ed Surgan of Westhampton [“A Trojan Horse,” Letters, November 25], one of the two commenting readers, noted, progressive commenters seem to be allowed far more latitude and frequency of publication in your letters pages. This would also apply to the opinion writers themselves. Mr. Surgan presents his case logically and to the point — I was delighted to see it in print.

Thomas Jones of Sag Harbor makes a similar case to show the folly of Mr. Sandoval’s race-baiting conclusions [“No Boogeyman,” Letters, November 25]. Mr. Sandoval is no moderate as he, himself, implies. Rather, he is a far left progressive whose wokeness and enlightenment of “compassionately confronted truths” are skewed, demonstrably false and patronizing.

I would like to point out that Mr. Jones weakens his case in a similar fashion to Mr. Sandoval by being loose with the facts. Presently, there is not double-digit inflation, as he states, and the economy has not failed. In reality, the economy is well on its way to failing, and we have yet to the achieve the double-digit inflation of the Jimmy Carter years. Joe Biden just needs a little more time to make this happen — be patient — and we can also add gas rationing to the list.

Mr. Surgan and Mr. Jones did an excellent job of exposing Mr. Sandoval for the circus act he is, and acknowledging the limitations when one’s head is confused as to its anatomical roots.

With regard to point and counterpoint, the November 25 Western Edition of The Press was a much-needed addition to the editorial department for trying to balance readers’ comments. Recent interviews by Joseph Shaw in the “Q&A” feature have been excellent, fair and well considered. The Express Sessions are an invaluable resource for community involvement. Presenting readers’ varied and opposing opinions is a worthy goal and should be acknowledged when it is done fairly. It can’t be an easy job to balance all the factors — socially, businesswise and tendentious personal opinion — that go into deciding what gets published. I thank you for your efforts.

John Porta

Westhampton