A fond goodbye to Carson’s

Carson Pirie Scott gave us a place to shop and work for 164 years, from its beginning in downstate Amboy to the beautiful Louis Sullivan-designed building on State Street, to its stores in many suburbs and cities.

Over the years, Carson’s supported charitable organizations. Employees contributed to United Way and walked the lakefront for the March of Dimes. Pets available for adoption from The Anti-Cruelty Society were featured in Carson’s newspaper ads. Customers donated gently-used clothing for Goodwill.

Neighborhood non-profit groups were able to sell coupon books at Carson’s and keep the proceeds. Senior citizens got a discount on Wednesdays.

Hugh Hefner worked in Carson’s advertising department, and cherished Sun-Times food critic Pat Bruno worked as a buyer there.

Now that Carson’s has gone out of business, my hope is that the department store’s former employees all find wonderful new employment opportunities.

Mary Marszalek, O’Hare

But McCain chose Palin

I was saddened to learn of the passing of Sen. John McCain, but if he truly put “country before ambition” and “country before party” — as a Sun-Times editorial claims — he would not have tried to put Sarah Palin a heartbeat away from the presidency.

Daniel Welch, Glen Ellyn

Respect for the presidency?

Tiger Woods says Donald Trump is the “president of the United States and you have to respect the office.” I will show our Dear Leader exactly as much respect as he showed the last person to hold this office.

Don Anderson, Oak Park

Lifestyles of the rich and pandering

On Saturday, the Sun-Times published an obituary of Robin Leach, he of “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous” fame. One passage caught my attention.

Commenting on the low esteem in which critics regarded his show, Leach once said: “I looked at the ratings every Monday morning, and I was rubbing my hands with glee.” Leach understood that appealing to the seven deadly sins, in his case “greed and envy”, was a sure-fire guarantee of success.

There is an all too obvious similarity with our politics today. President Donald Trump knows that appealing to, in his case, “wrath or anger” is a similar path to success.

President Barack Obama, for all his faults, appealed to the better angels of our nature. The current regime enables and empowers the demons in our society. Trump transformed television ratings into votes by encouraging his supporters to wallow in their anger.

Peter Vilkelis, Lincoln Park