Dr. Mark Holbrook’s May 16 Forecaster Forum piece might be the best example I’ve seen recently of what’s wrong with contemporary American politics.

In place of reasoned thought, he offers vitriolic partisanship. In place of rational dialogue, he offers ideological closed-mindedness. Congress is already close to useless. The last thing it needs is yet another member who blames all of America’s real and imagined ills on “morally reprehensible,” “pathologically progressive liberals” who are “systematically eroding our liberties” and the nation’s “moral foundation.” This type of rhetoric belongs in North Korea or Iran, not here.

Nor do Dr. Holbrook’s arguments wash. If life begins at birth, as he asserts, then what difference does rape or incest make? That’s not the fetus’ fault. But by introducing exceptions of convenience into his morality, Dr. Holbrook is no better than those dastardly liberals he blames for everything.

Equally troubling is Dr. Holbrook’s flippant disregard for the Supreme Court, which, last I checked, is equal to Congress under the Constitution. Dr. Holbrook seems to think the Court’s rulings on abortion don’t count because they were handed down by “nine unelected citizens in black robes.” What does that even mean? Can I now ignore laws because they were “signed by a guy who lives in the White House?”

Governing is messy work. It requires compromise, common sense, and a good-faith willingness to work with people who might not think exactly like you do. There is nothing in Dr. Holbrook’s missive that remotely hints at such qualities.

Andrew J. Schaefer

Yarmouth