Madam, - I note with interest that the US primary campaigns have ignited much excitement even among our own citizenry.
However, it continues to astound me that the vast majority of our populace favour the return of a Democrat to the Oval Office, even though many of the prevailing majority positions held in this country would appear to fit more naturally with those espoused by the Republican Party.
Admittedly, the calamitous failings of the Bush administration, perhaps coupled with a blarney-tinted remembrance of the presidencies of Kennedy and Clinton, have contributed to this. Nevertheless, on many key issues such as abortion, gay rights, fiscal policy, church involvement in education and the increasing role of private-sector enterprise in public services such as healthcare, the opinions of the Irish electorate appear to be more in concord with US Republican voters, who are so often categorised by many in this country as an unsophisticated assemblage.
As a steadfast social liberal I can only hope that our nation's affection for the Democratic Party may translate into a loosening of the conservative grip which continues to ensnare our own country. - Yours, etc,
DAVID HUMPHREYS,
Murroe,
Co Limerick.