Letters

What we seem to be losing in America is the basic awareness that conflicting opinion is the Mother of Compromise. When did we get to this place of thinking that the world is black and white, and there is only my point of view (the right one, of course) and your point of view, which is actually just a blind spot you’ll never see beyond?

We used to leave the big issues up to our Supreme Court, and though many are joyful about their recent decision, didn’t several of those judges state that they would not make that decision should the issue come up? Now, it appears, free choice is not a matter of “your choice”; it’s a matter of what state government you live under.

So perhaps this is another opportunity for conflicting opinions to find compromise, since individual freedom seems to be off the table.

Why not agree now that some states have legal abortions and some states don’t. And no state can reach across its borders to effect outcomes in another state. The restrictive state has to put up with the fact that other states are following different laws, and its residents have the burden of travel thrown into the stew. While the liberal state has to put up with the fact that it’s now having to take care of out-of-state patients as well as their own.

There, live with it.

And just to emphasize that all politics is local, some people want to drive trucks onto the beach to fish and party, and others want a truckless beach. So what would be wrong with trucks using the beach Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and the other days of the week it’s closed to trucks?

Lawyers must love the fact that American citizens have lost the ability to envision compromise. One always exists, but not for the “my way or the highway” type.

Howard Mitchell

Sag Harbor