Dear New York Times,

Ever since the current administration took office, the front page of your newspaper has been filled with bad news. Every day, for almost six years now, there has been an unremitting stream of tragedy. Every day, the news is the same as the day before, just a little bit worse.

War, death and destruction, terror, our economy shot to hell, a looming health care crisis, people without jobs, people in poverty, people abandoned by their government, torture, secret prisons, spying on American citizens. That sort of thing. I'm numb, already, and just a little bit scared.

And your wimpy editorials are no help at all. Imagine, suggesting things that the guys in charge might do to save the future of the country and our reputation in the world. And your complaints about how the federal agencies are shot through with incompetent cronyism. And suggesting that they should stop committing war crimes. You think they're listening? You think they're reading your editorial page? You should live so long.

So please do a favor for me and for the rest of your readers. Try to put some good news on your front page once in a while. It would be a lot less depressing, and we might believe that there really is a future.

Yours truly,

A reader who is afraid to look at tomorrow's front page