Demography is King

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/29/opinion/29brooks.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper&oref=slogin- Hide quoted text ----------- Forwarded message ----------From: barry levine <levinebar@gmail.com>Date: Tue, Apr 29, 2008 at 11:51 AMSubject: Demography is KingTo: letters@nytimes.com

To the Editor: David Brooks correctly identifies our problem of a nation flying apart into enclaves of voters who share no common ground. Senator Edwards has been sounding this alarm for years now. These tensions have always been with us, but were checked for decades by a public school system in which the son of the janitor studied next to the daughter of the banker. What is new in Mr. Brooks' analysis is the implication that this is a Democratic problem. When Reagan promised to dismantle the department of Education, was he pursuing a Democrat agenda? Was it the Democratic party that campaigned to create non-mixing social, religious and ethnic enclaves through school vouchers? Mr. Brooks has free rein to mix revisionist history into his political analysis, but this newspaper would do well to present a counterpoint to such a screed.Barry Levine1142 Brown AveLafayette, CA 94549