I wanted to bail early on Donald Vaillancourt’s letter, “Nothing getting done”(July 30). The tiresome, hypocritical and all-too typical Democrat rant, “My side’s principled, your side’s partisan!” held no interest for me. But I labored into the second part of the letter, where he wondered, “Anyway, what is this that whenever a president speaks, the Republicans have a rebuttal afterward . . . In a company, when a boss speaks to the employees, does anyone ever dispute the boss’ statements in rebuttal speech?” With this curious analogy came the shock of sudden and unexpected recognition.

Vaillancourt has shone the light of analogy onto an underlying, little-recognized Democrat-turned-Socialist principle: totalitarianism. Democrats have the nation headed down the road to big-state, European-style socialism where Democratic presidents serve as the people’s “bosses.”

Citizens mindlessly obey as cowed and silent worker bees for “dear leader.” Forget resisting the dictates of the leftist-elite ruling class. In the brave new Utopian nanny state just ahead, people won’t dare so much as dispute anything the “boss” says for fear that they “would not remain on the payroll long,” as Vaillancourt’s extended analogy chillingly puts it.

Conservatives recognize and decry the increasing number of calls for totalitarianism buried carelessly amidst heated comments like Vaillancourt’s. He declares the need for state control of political speech now.

The shock, if there is any, is that his letter lets people in on Democratic intentions a wee bit early.

I consider myself well and truly warned.

Leonard Hoy, Greenwood