I read Gail Skinner’s letter Nov. 7 and wondered if he thought the end of the world was coming with Barack Obama’s election. I am a liberal and a Democrat, and I think my letter speaks for the majority of us. To conservatives and Republicans, I and my fellow liberals and Democrats hereby make these promises to you:

1. We will respect you for your conservative beliefs. We will never call you unpatriotic simply because you disagree with us.

2. We will let you marry whomever you want; who you marry is none of our business.

3. We will not spend your grandchildren’s money on personal whims or to enrich our friends.

4. When we soon bring our children and grandchildren home from Iraq, we will bring yours home, too. We will never send them off to war based on a lie.

5. When we become the last Western democracy to have universal health coverage, we promise that you, too, can see a doctor regardless of your ability to pay. When stem cell research finds cures, we will make sure they are available to your family as well.

6. Even though you opposed environmental regulation, when we clean up the water and air, we will let your family drink and breathe it, too.

7. Should a mass murderer kill 3,000 people on our soil, we will hunt him down and bring him to justice. We will protect you.

8. We won’t take away your hunting guns. If you need automatic assault weapons to kill a deer, you aren’t much of a hunter. The carnage at the mall in Omaha and other places has to end.

9. When we raise the minimum wage, we will pay you and your employees that new wage, too. When women make equal pay with men, we will pay conservative women that same wage, too.

10. We will not tolerate corrupt politicians who are bought and paid for by the rich. I promise this because this is your country, too.

You are every bit as American as we are. We sink or swim together. Let’s see if we can make things better for our 300 million fellow American — and the rest of the world.

Steve Schukar, Lincoln

Some perspective

I think these rants about William Ayers being a “terrorist” are misguided. Let’s put this in perspective. I wear two slogan buttons proudly. One says, “War is terrorism,” and the other says “Killing one person is murder; killing 100,000 is foreign policy.”

Vincent Sullivan, Crete

Longer limit for safe haven

I believe the safe haven law needs to be changed. However, I truly believe that the age limit needs to be expanded from the proposed 3 days old to at least 2 years old. I have e-mailed all of our state senators on this belief as well as Gov. Dave Heineman.

We have too many children in this state who are the victims of child abuse. Especially Shaken Baby Syndrome.

If we expanded the age limit to 2 years old, maybe we could save some of these children’s lives if  parents and caregivers knew they had the option to drop off the child before they abused them.

I also believe we need to propose a plan or establish a committee to look into providing more assistance to these families who feel they have nowhere to turn with their older children.

We as a community need to put our children and their well-being first.

Kim Morsett, Raymond

Give Obama break

“NOW WHAT?” was the headline in big white letters (LJS, Nov. 6) with the question mark running right into the face of Barack Hussein Obama, our next president.

On day two after the election, we should give him a break. He does not begin his first hundred days in office until late January of next year.

Nina Williamson, Lincoln