My Labor Day weekend in the Islands was enjoyable with one exception: I read the column by Harold Myerson in your Sept. 1 edition.

Mr. Myerson’s hatchet job on a major political party indicts its followers as racists, homophobes, scientific illiterates and antihumanitarian. And all because Republicans are acting like Southerners did over 150 years ago in the days of Jefferson Davis. Really?

The Republicans I know, myself included, do not deserve this indictment. Millions of us are socially responsible and civic-minded. We feed the hungry, clothe the poor, give generously to charities, live within legal boundaries, pay our bills, adhere to good moral and ethical standards, teach our children to be productive adults and, yes, are patriotic.

As for the Southerners, there are few ghosts (per Myerson) still active. It is unfair to cast a major region of our country as undeserving of our respect.

In reflecting on Mr. Myerson’s column, I am wondering why the moguls of media would finance the dissemination of such rubbish.

Ed Ristau

Fairport

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