Compromise is key

Keli Carender glares at strangers in the store because she's “surrounded by people destroying freedom” [“Surrounded by liberals, tea-party group isolated,” NWTuesday, Nov. 13]. And she's pretty sure they are Californians.

Greg Moon has a dad who's a liberal and knows some other liberal folks that seem OK, but flying the American flag is a secret code for being a conservative.

Mark Young stopped paying taxes for a while because he didn't approve of how they were spent.

As an American, I believe in our Constitution and democracy. So, sometimes, in a democracy, as in life, you don't always get your way. Majority rules. Sometimes, you have to find middle ground by talking to people different from yourself, to make it work asbest you can for everyone. You can either participate in that process to help keep things moving or you can blame everyone else for not doing things your way and get nothing done.

We have big problems to tackle as a nation. Name-calling, stubbornness and intolerance will not get it done. We are all either part of the solution or part of the problem.

— Nancy Whitney, Renton

Skipping tax returns not a cavalier act

The tea-party group members are entitled to their beliefs. I would hardly call them patriots, as they seem unwilling to contribute to the cost of running this country.

My issue is with the reporting regarding Mark Young.The Seattle Times allows him to glorify that for a number of years, he did not file tax returns. He alludes to a statute of limitations and he claims that after some conversations with the IRS, nothing much happened to him. He is now paying taxes.

To be clear, there is no statute of limitations when it comes to paying taxes. The IRS always gets their man or woman. It is more likely that he had to file returns for those years he skipped and it was probably found that he did not owe taxes for those years. Hence, he is now filing tax returns again.

To portray not filing a tax return as a cavalier act, rather than a serious actthat will carry serious repercussions for an individual, is irresponsible.

— C.B. Samuel, Clyde Hill