Letters: Replace lawmakers who won’t protect the outdoors; Fears from history
Replace lawmakers who won’t protect the outdoors
If you a fisherman, hunter, or someone who just enjoys the outdoors, I hope you are as outraged as I am at the continued assault on our great outdoors by this president and his Republican allies in congress. It is deeply saddening to me that a party that once helped pass the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and the Endangered Species Act is now helping Trump to not only gut those laws, but prevent any new environmental protections.
For example, all nine Pennsylvania Republican representatives recently voted against more funds to improve water quality in the Chesapeake Bay. And they supported President Trump’s proposal to gut the Clean Water Act which afforded protection for headwater streams and wetlands, the foundation of our great trout streams and drinking water for millions of Americans.
Earlier, U.S. Rep. Fred Keller and Sen. Pat Toomey voted against fully funding the Land and Water Conservation Fund.
No taxpayer money goes into the LWCF. All of the funds come from royalty payments that oil and gas drillers in the Gulf of Mexico have to pay into the LWCF to compensate Americans for the oil and gas they are taking. The LWCF has been used to fund local parks and playgrounds, stream access, more state gamelands, historical sites and national monuments. How can you be against that?
In order to protect our outdoor heritage, we need to replace these representatives who have been voting against our interests. There is no time to lose.
Fears from history
My father was a man of few words. When he spoke we listened. After the 2016 election and the “WHO” (White House Occupant) taking power, he called Trump a “little Hitler.” He would know. My father fought with Gen. Patton’s Army against the Germans in WWII and saw what this brought to Europe. I too know of life under a dictatorship. I lived in Honduras, Central America while in the Peace Corps, when Honduras was a military dictatorship.
Recently we saw government’s agents detaining citizens without warrants. These citizens were taken in unmarked vans by unidentifiable government agents. They were held at a government building and not charged. Then released without charge. The city of Portland claimed they were peaceful protesters.
History has shown that when dictators lose the support of the people they become willing to do anything to retain their power. They lie, they cheat, they use armed groups (hit squads) and they arrest, intimidate and kill people who oppose them. They crush anyone who does not follow their dictates.
Trump is down in polls by double digits. His chances of winning in November are getting poorer. He and the GOP have tried to limit voting (voter ID laws, no mail-in ballots etc.) and has laid the groundwork to claim that his possible election loss is rigged. What if he refuses to step down? My fear is that Dad was correct and we’ll see our first American dictator being made right before our eyes!
Penn State: Do the right thing
Did I hear correctly? A WPSU radio interview during Morning Edition on July 30 with a Penn State student from Philadelphia told us he plans to return to campus rather than take courses online “because I need to get out of the house.” Does this sound like a responsible young adult who will spend his time going to class and returning to his dorm or other accommodation to study, while practicing social distancing, wearing a mask, etc? Sounds to me like yet another Penn Stater who’s ready to party. Adults, and those ostensibly preparing for adulthood, learn that sometimes one must sacrifice or at least alter his or her behavior for the larger benefit of the society of which they are a part.
Penn State, please do not place all of us in the community at greater risk of the coronavirus to benefit your coffers. Do the right thing and delay physical opening.