In response to Elaine Graham’s letter, (Tax parity is bad public policy, Aug. 25), deriding Sens. Charles Schumer, D-New York,  and Susan Collins, R-Maine, for the introduction of legislation that would end unfair taxation of health benefits provided to domestic partners:

How Graham believes this legislation is intended solely for the purpose of equating same-sex marriage with anything is beyond me but — as usual — Ms. Graham inevitably seeks the proverbial needle in the haystack in order to pursue her never-ending campaign against homosexuals.

But I can’t help but wonder — as she laments the media for not assuming the mantel of hate and suppression of civil rights — what kind of nation does she believe we all should live in?

Does she advocate a nation where state-run media tells its audience what to think? Media that are controlled by high levels of government which regulate the content? A nation where dissenting voices are suppressed or even punished?

Is Graham insisting we live in a nation where a single political party, with a single voice, powered by a single religious message, govern with a single moral coda that adjudicates every aspect of our lives?

It would certainly seem so.

The nation Graham advocates — a nation of suppression, aggression and unfairness — is easily found in the world. It’s a place where no American would want to live. We’ve gone to war with nations like those before and are at war with two of them right now.

Joseph V. Keelan, West Gardiner