I just learned, to my surprise, from a recent letter in The Bellevue Reporter (from a former Republican?) that I was “a locally well-known producer of right-wing diatribe.” The writer’s claims about an article I wrote makes me question whether he even read it.

I did not “liken any of the policies of the last Republican administration or those of the current Republicans in the Congress to true ‘conservatism.’” I did not even mention the previous administration (or any Republicans) in my writing. For “good” measure, he also takes a quote out of context from an earlier letter I wrote.

I urge anyone who might be mislead by the recent letter to read what I actually wrote, then draw their own conclusions. Was there ever a political campaign in which a liberal (or conservative) candidate didn’t point out the dangers of supporting the opposition? Barack Obama certainly did.

Even more surprising, I’d never heard Dan Evans referred to as a conservative before. I suppose in Western Washington someone who wants the government to take over our lives at a slightly slower pace than the Democrats might be considered by some to be a conservative.

Unfortunately, Thomas Jefferson was probably correct when he said: “The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground.”

Gary T. McGavran, Bellevue