Original Constitution fatally flawed

If, over the years, the Supreme Court interpreted the Constitution in conformance with the views of Justice Antonin Scalia and Jay Ambrose as expressed in his April 30 column, “The dangers of a ‘living Constitution,’ ” we would still have racially segregated public schools (Brown v. Board of Education); arrested citizens would be denied counsel when being questioned by the police (Miranda v. Arizona); citizens who could not obtain legal representation would be tried on felony charges without counsel (Gideon v. Wainwright); women would not have the right to choose (Roe v. Wade); the right to use contraceptives would not be constitutionally protected (Griswold v. Connecticut); and interracial couples would be prohibited from marrying (Loving v. Virginia).

Without rulings that depart from the views of Justice Scalia and Mr. Ambrose, the Constitution would serve only to protect the rights of white men, the wealthy and the privileged. That was its original intent.

Leonard C. Simmons

Columbia

Learning astronomy requires books

In her succinct critique of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s black liberation theology, Usha Nellore lists some seemingly unbridgeable differences the good reverend sees between black and white ways of life (“Just how liberating is black liberation theology for blacks?” May 1). These include black music, black rhythm, black English and modes of learning, with blacks learning through oral tradition rather than books.

Concerning the last, allow me to suggest something very important in life that all races experience in exactly the same way and which can only be completely understood through reading books: Newton’s Law of Gravity. It tells us, for example, if you weigh 180 pounds on Earth, you will weigh 30 pounds on the moon and 450 pounds on Jupiter.

Furthermore, prima facie evidence of how wrong the reverend is in his oral versus books belief are two prominent black astronomers, Neil deGrasse Tyson, director of New York’s Hayden Planetarium, and professor Jim Gates, a string theorist at the University of Maryland, neither of whose knowledge of their subject could possibly have stemmed from oral tradition!

Herman M. Heyn

Baltimore

Public pay does not rival private compensation

While I agree that adding public-sector jobs is unsustainable without tax increases, I am baffled by the claim that “the average government worker earns more than the average worker in the private sector” in the May 2 editorial, “More government, less take home pay.”

All studies done and many Democrats and Republicans alike decry the difficulty of luring private-sector employees to the public sector because public-sector jobs are notorious for low pay. The public sector attracts those drawn to public service, job security and the usually better benefits they receive in exchange for lower financial compensation. While there may be the rare exception, almost every position from the executive to the housekeeper is paid less by the government than it would be paid if working for private business. The Examiner’s own stories have often complained about public employees using their government connections to catapult them into private-sector windfalls.

Both your opinions cannot be true. Either government workers are overpaid or most government workers are underpaid in reference to their private-sector counterparts.

Even the salaries of those profiled in The Examiner’s stories on “high-salary” public executives or those of Baltimore City police officers faulted for “excessive overtime” would pale in comparison with the compensation those individuals would have received if they worked in equivalent private-sector positions.

 Mark Thiess

Essex

Let the 1960s rest in peace

Let the 1960s go. Will we forever refight that decade that ended almost four decades ago? Mark Newgent, in his May 3 column, “Unrepentant ’60s bomber now teaches our teachers,” condemns William Ayers for his actions in the 1960s and, by association, Barack Obama, who was on a committee with him. What does Newgent want, a tearful apology like those from a TV preacher? The law has said he’s paid for his actions. Four decades of public service have attested to his behavior.

Should Newgent want everyone to atone for what they did 40 years ago? How about the Baltimore Realtors who wouldn’t sell Frank Robinson a home in a neighborhood he could afford before leading the Orioles to the 1966 World Series? How about local bars that wouldn’t sell to returning black Vietnam veterans?

Leave us the music of the Beatles, but let the mistakes go. Let it be just another part of history.

 Jim Martin

Baltimore