Vander Plaats' slave assertion is deplorable

I am sickened by Bob Vander Plaats' pledge (that he and The Family Leader want candidates to sign) that implies children were better off as slaves because they supposedly had two parents to raise them.

Obviously, he is ignorant of the commerce of slavery. If he bothered to check, he would find out that slave families were regularly torn apart when one or more of the parents or a child were sold off to some other slave owner.

Vander Plaats' assertion that anyone of any race would be better off as a slave for any reason is the type of thing that makes me very angry and suspicious of the agenda of the right wing.

Kudos to the candidates who refused to sign this pledge, and shame on those who did sign it, or anyone anywhere who thinks a child in slavery is ever better off.

Pat Dahlberg

Cedar Rapids