So the letters to the editor tell me, yet I go on writing anyway:

The modern Republican Party has governed since Sept. 11, 2001, based on a nonstop love affair with the military, wrapping itself in the flag to imply that anyone who was not a Republican was anti-soldier and anti-American.

There’s nothing unusual about that, by the way. Presidents have appeared with troops for political purposes all the way back to Gen. and President George Washington. What is unprecedented is the degree to which this president and his party have claimed exclusivity over that right.

The problems really begin when a president declares some form of politics appropriate for himself but inappropriate for others. What one party does in service of politics always can be turned against it by the other, something both Democrats and Republicans should know by now. That knowledge should engender more caution, more thought along the lines of, “If I do this to my opponent, someday my opponent will do this to me, and I won’t be able to speak out against it.” If there are no moral obligations to behave decently in the political arena, there at least should be practical ones.

I always find the accusations of communism charmingly old-fashioned. Catch up, guys. If you want to scare people away from me today you need to call me a terrorist.

Sheesh.

A.