To the Editor:

As a citizen, each of us has a responsibility to participate in our democratic processes. We have a party system, and to participate fully, one must belong to a party. The question is: which one?

I choose to be a Democrat because that party shows more compassion for the unfortunate, more concern about what we are doing to our environment, and more interest in human rights and fairness. In recent times, the reasons are more compelling: our country and the rest of humanity face serious threats, which the Republican administration is making much worse. Consider:

• There are already too many people for our planet to support indefinitely, and the number is rising rapidly. The first thing Bush did as president was to stop US support for family planning abroad and he continues to oppose abortion.

• The Republican administration has consistently relaxed regulations protecting the environment and refused participate in the treaty to control global warming.

• Between countries as well as within the US, there is enormous disparity of wealth, and it is getting worse. With the tax cut and promoting the profitability of large corporations, Bush has added to the problem.

• All over the world, people are treated unfairly because of gender, race, religion, or sexual preference. Democrats have steadily promoted equal opportunity for all. The policies of the Republican administration have resulted in cut-backs in many needed services and, for example, are making it more difficult for the children of the poor to get a good education. America’s strength is in its people, and we need to continue to invest in them, rather than in adventures in the Middle East.

• While democracy has been spreading in the world, there are still many totalitarian regimes. Some, such as Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, are supported by the Bush administration. No good has come of the support we have given to the likes of Saddam Hussein and the Taliban in the past and none will come of our continuing to support dictators..

• Much of the violence in the world results from people feeling oppressed, humiliated, disenfranchised, powerless to find a satisfactory life, and consequently turning violent. Bush’s remedy is to turn our armed forces loose on them, which only makes matters worse. Our government says that we are winning the war on terrorism because we are killing more of them than they are killing us, blind to the fact that each Iraqi killed swells the ranks of the terrorists and makes them more determined.

• Light arms and land mines have killed and maimed a lot more people than weapons of mass destruction. Bush has refused to cooperate with the rest of the world to ban land mines and to control weapons trafficking.

• The Bush administration has failed to prevent North Korea, Iran, and others from developing their nuclear capability.

• Under Bush, our health care delivery system has deteriorated and, with the cost of the war, is getting worse, especially for the poor and elderly. The Republican health bill just passed makes it possible for the insurance industry to make big profits by offering low-risk customers health insurance while the cost of Medicare for the others skyrockets.

• The Bush administration is plunging the country into the deepest debt on record. It is spending a ridiculous amount on the military, more than the next dozen countries combined, and has the nerve to call it “defense spending”. Defense against whom? Terrorists? A huge army is ineffective against guerilla warfare, as we should have learned from our experience in Viet Nam, the USSR adventure in Afghanistan, the Russian debacle in Chechnya, and our growing casualty list in Iraq.

• Under the guise of “economic stimulus”, the Republican administration gave a huge tax cut to its rich partisans. Any economist will tell you that to stimulate the economy, money should be put into the hands of those who will spend it, not the rich, and then only so long as stimulus is needed. This tax cut has done nothing for the many unemployed and will last for ten years, including periods of boom, when restraint, not stimulus, is needed.

• Man's only hope of dealing effectively with the many threats we face is through international cooperation.. This applies not only to protecting our environment, moderating population growth, dealing with poverty around the world, coping with pandemics, but also, and especially, addressing the problem of terrorism. The administration has refused to cooperate with other nations at every turn: the test ban treaty, the treaty to control small arms trafficking, the International Criminal Court, the global warming treaty, etc., etc. and has frequently violated UN resolutions, including many we helped to pass. The Republican policy of unilateralism has immeasurably set back the cause of international cooperation to protect mankind from the real dangers we face.

• The Republican administration has trampled on human rights to a disgraceful extent.

I was a Democrat before Bush, but if I weren’t, I surely would be now. Playing off the reaction to the tragedy of Sept. 11, Bush has continued to preach fear to generate political support for his misguided policies. The policies of the present Republican administration are the biggest threat to the future, not only of this country, but of the world.