See more of the story

I carefully watched the Republican National Convention last week, much as I did the Democratic National Convention the week before. There were many good speeches, but a couple of things struck me. The first was the Republican slogan, "Country First." It is a great slogan, but I found it very ironic to see Tim Pawlenty standing in front of the delegates touting how everything John McCain did put the country first, yet when six Republican members of the Minnesota House voted last spring to increase the gas tax, a vote they thought was putting the state first by ensuring we have good roads and safe bridges, they were ostracized and made outcasts by their party. The second was the story told by Mike Huckabee of the teacher who took the chairs out of her classroom and told her students they had to figure out how to earn their desks. As a public two-year college teacher, I followed along eagerly, thinking that I knew the answer. But instead of telling the students to do some community service to earn their desks, the students were told that they didn't need to do anything because the armed service veterans had earned the desks for them. I thought it sent entirely the wrong message to the students. It also shows that for many Republicans, including some in our state, the meaning of "country first" is indeed narrow. NANCY GALE, PLYMOUTH