I write in response to a recent letter from a one Aaron B. Covert:

His astonishingly close-minded and offensive remarks, I feel, need to be addressed.

I prefer not to get caught up in politics mostly, but when someone says things like this I feel I must get involved.

As a practicing Catholic, I would like to say that in no way does religion limit me, or anyone, to being conservative.

In some ways it actually pushes me towards being liberal – accepting people and loving them for who they are.

The fact that he calls liberals “the enemy” is, first of all, outrageous. We all live together here on this island – in this country, even – and never should our neighbor be our “enemy.”

Even in this world we must never stereotype others as our enemies. But, secondly, it is also cruel.

A blatant attack on the people around you says more about you than it does about them. It shows us that this boy is blind, unfair, and childish.

He goes on to attack several past presidents, including Jimmy Carter, a Nobel Peace Prize recipient, and Franklin Roosevelt, commonly acknowledged to be our greatest president yet.

He mocks them and blames them for tragedies out of their control. His lack of understanding of cause and effect, his general refusal to accept others and their beliefs, and his unjustifiable hatred by no means should represent any others among us nor should it go on unaddressed.

Maddie Biencourt, age 17

Bainbridge Island