To the editor:

Of the many columns written about the passing of George H. W. Bush, all are in agreement that he was an honorable man with a sense of dignity and respect for our country. With this, I would agree.

However, no one seems to remember the whole man. Bush was violently opposed to Medicare (“… damned socialism”) and tried everything in his power to destroy it. Of course, when you’re a billionaire, paying $10,000 for a two-day hospitalization is no big deal.

Bush was strongly opposed to the Fair Housing Act, which helped to end discrimination against minority home purchasers. He shouted that it would create a fourth branch of government with its regulatory powers.

Bush opposed almost every single piece of proposed civil rights legislation in his era. He eventually took the Republican Party far, far to the right of its traditional positions on such matters, which is where it remains today.

Let’s remember the whole man, not the nonexistent one.

Richard L. Warrick,

Lawrence