It appears that my letter taking a humorous poke at Congressman Elton Gallegly for using a 20-year-old photograph has raised some hackles among the local right wing.

One letter writer states that since I disagree with Gallegly’s policies and positions, that means I’m against a strong defense, fiscal restraint and immigration reform.

I’m not against these things.

What I am against is the way Gallegly and the right wing define and approach these issues.

Let’s take defense. To Gallegly, having a “strong defense” means pursuing an arrogant, bullying and belligerent foreign policy that alienates us from our allies, fuels hatred of America and acts as a recruitment tool for terrorists around the world.

It also means giving boatloads of money to the Pentagon for weapons programs of questionable value.

In my view, neither of these policies strengthens our national defense.

Regarding “fiscal restraint,” Gallegly and other conservatives want to slash spending for social programs, cut taxes for the rich and corporations, and gut regulations. This is the old trickledown theory of economics: Just do these things and the result will be economic growth, jobs and prosperity for all.

What actually happens is that the rich buy more yachts and the big corporations use their tax windfalls to buy back stock and lavish obscene compensation packages on their executives while moving American jobs overseas.

Not only do deficits soar– as they did under the eight years of the Bush administration– jobs vanish, social services wither, schools degrade, the environment gets more polluted and our infrastructure crumbles.

On immigration reform, one of Gallegly’s “solutions” is to simply deport 11 million illegals, which he says would instantly create 11 million jobs for Americans.

Deport 11 million people? I’d like to see the budget and logistical plan for that operation. And does Gallegly really envision America’s unemployed flocking to the bottom-of-thebarrel jobs that illegal immigrants fill?

Sure, let’s move to better secure our borders. But a reasonable amnesty program providing a path to citizenship for those illegals already here is the only workable solution to this thorny problem. Tim Smight Thousand Oaks