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• A case for upward mobility
• Dropping out does have its costs
• Finally, a reality check for Roanoke council
• Creative compassion

Rowland Harris ("Ask yourself, are you better off now?," Sept. 18 letter) stated we should ask ourselves if we are better off than we were four years ago. Our family's answer is yes.

The stock market has doubled and interest rates are near historic lows. Consequently, our investments have done very well, and we've been able to refinance a mortgage at an amazingly low rate. More important, health care reform has added years of solvency to Medicare, and we don't have to worry about our grandchildren losing health insurance should they develop a serious illness.

Is our country better off? Yes. Four years ago, major financial institutions and auto companies were going bankrupt. The economy and banking system were on the verge of collapse. By early 2009, more than 5 million jobs and trillions of dollars were lost from the economy. Both are slowly growing again.

The 2008Great Recession caused too many severe losses for a quick recovery, especially when Republican leaders said their No. 1 priority was to ensure that President Obama would not win re-election, rather than help the country through the worse economic catastrophe since the Great Depression.

TED KANTNER
MONETA

A poor civics lesson from the good ol' days

Barbara Wilson of Floyd may be correct when she asks, "Are our schools better now that prayer is not allowed?" ("Areligious groups thrust the Bible into politics," Sept. 22 Pick of the day). However, it seems to me that when public prayer was not only allowed but mandatory, schools were not doing a better job educating students in civic matters.

Otherwise she could not have written, "This is America, where the majority of the people rule."

This statement is questionable at best, for "the majority of the people" does not even bother to vote. But much more important, there is that very pesky little document that protects minorities from the abusive rule of the majority: the Constitution of the United States of America.

PIERRE JACOEBEE
ROANOKE

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