Re Column “Calling out the Republicans” Free Press Dec. 19-21 edition:

The political right in Sweden was less successful in destroying the political left in Sweden than the political right here in the United States was in destroying the political left.

Think: J. Edgar Hoover, U.S. Sens. Joseph McCarthy and James Eastland, Rep. Martin Dies Jr., Whittaker Chambers, David Greenglass, 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Irving R. Kaufman and President Nixon.

Is this one reason why it fell to a girl in Sweden, and not to a girl in the United States, to prick the conscience of the world on our inaction on carbon emissions?

Let us also remember that, in July 2018, it was a Swedish college student who bought an airplane ticket for the sole purpose of saving the life of an Afghan man seeking asylum in Sweden who was going to be deported to a probable death. She did this by refusing to sit down until the man was taken off the plane, knowing the plane legally could not take off while she was standing in the aisle.

Be that as it may, we do know that Swedish teen and environmental activist Greta Thunberg have remarkably supportive parents. Where in the states would we find parents that supportive?

KENNETH NYGREN

Richmond