To Mr. Roepke, in response to his Feb. 9 letter:

I do have “sensible, logical responses” to your tricky questions.

On secure borders: It is common knowledge that Democrats have supported and will continue to support legislation to keep our borders secure.

On Americans feeling safer with Bush: There is no doubt that Saddam’s capture was a good thing. (The way Bush went about doing it was a bad thing.)

But does that mean Americans feel safer with Bush as president? Even three days after Saddam was captured, polls showed that 78 percent of Americans felt as or less safe from terrorist attacks.

On Bush managing the biggest state in the United States — this is true. The state whose education system was rated 50 out of 50 was managed by Bush. And lucky for the other 49 states, since Bush has been president, we now have a federal education system modeled on the worst in the country.

And we should have expected a deficit for the United States after Bush got appointed president, because he did the same thing to Texas.

As governor, he put to death more people than any other governor — ever. Many Texans did vote for Bush, because they wanted him out of their state.

As for health care not being a “right” in the constitution: Then by your logic, neither is public education, so maybe you should transfer to a private college.

On Bush’s unsuccessful trickle-down economics: Nonpartisan sources found that half of the tax cuts went to the wealthiest 1 percent. The top 1 percent.

And it isn’t trickling anywhere. Americans want a President who will create jobs; not lose more than 3 million in record time.

What has John Kerry done? He has actually served our country, with a life devoted to public service. Kerry has sat on the Senate Foreign Relation Committee for 19 years. What sort of foreign relations experience did Bush have?

Kerry has fought for making offshore corporations accountable. Bush has given them tax cuts. Kerry has been one of the greatest environmental leaders in the history of the Senate, working to strengthen clean air and clean water laws.

Under Bush, there has been a 45 percent cut in cleaning up Superfund toxic waste sites. Bush broke a campaign pledge to reduce global warming emissions in the environment.

But this debate isn’t about Bush v. Kerry. It’s about Bush v. Americans. Americans who want their civil liberties back, their environment safe from corporate pollution, an education system that educates, rather than teaches for a test and an economy that provides jobs for us.

Americans are sick of this mess. All of the Democratic candidates have solutions to fix what Bush has started.

Hannah Schoenthal-Muse

President

ISU Democrats