Letters: CDT readers write about issues important to them in the upcoming election

The Mother of All Threats

It’s been alarming to see the lack of discussion this election season over our most threatening challenge as humans: climate change, with barely a mention by candidates, indicating just how low it is on the minds of voters. I suppose a pandemic and economic collapse outweigh the threat.

But unlike political polarization, it’s taken generations of greenhouse gas accumulation to show itself, as severe weather, encroaching sea level rise, drought, and stresses on already-fragile regions that exacerbate instability and migration. It’ll get worse.

The good news is that we are now practicing for the bigger threats to come. Let’s use this pandemic as a sandbox to work out the global cooperation needed. Nations will be forced to figure out coping mechanisms to withstand disruption from creeping global warming. It’s inevitable. Yet we know how to limit it and understand what to do about it: end the use of fossil fuel, develop the renewable energy infrastructure to replace it, and do it globally.

Pennsylvania must join The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). The United States Congress can pass legislation such as HR 763, the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act, to fund clean energy transformation, with good jobs to create it!

As Citizens’ Climate Lobby, (supporting HR 763), reminds me, climate change is not only our duty to confront, it is our ultimate bridge issue. Like overcoming a pandemic, it shouldn’t be a wedge between us, but the most pressing issue to unite us.

Vote Griffin for climate change action

Citizens of the 12th District want action on climate change. Non-partisan polling reveals that the majority in our district know global warming is happening; and that it is affecting our weather and our economic future. In 2019, several of our counties were declared natural disaster areas because of excessive rain, while this year, several counties have experienced severe drought conditions.

We must have a representative who understands climate change and its effects. We need someone who can act strategically to bring us into a safer future while strengthening our economy and protecting the health of our environment, and who understands the time to act is now!

Fred Keller, our current representative, toes Trump’s line as U.S. environmental policy moves dangerously backward. We in the 12th District know better, and want action. For example, a sizable majority favor setting strict CO2 limits on existing coal-fired power plants. A recent federal appeals court agreed, overturning EPA’s weak air pollution rules for Pennsylvania’s coal-fired power plants.

Lee Griffin, the Democratic candidate, gets it. He has acknowledged: “The climate crisis is here and already affecting Pennsylvania citizens and the state’s economy.”

If you want action on climate change, vote for Lee Griffin.

A return to normalcy

Were you proud when:

• Nixon opened up a new relation with China? Not because Nixon liked China’s government but because he knew it would make billions of dollars for each country and help create millions of jobs for each country.
• Reagan said, “Rather than talking about putting up a fence,” and signed the Immigration Reform Act?
• George H.W. Bush and Congress established the Americans with Disabilities Act?

True Republican presidents were Eisenhower and Reagan. These presidents knew that loyalty to country and the U.S. Constitution comes before loyalty to one person or any political party.

The Republican Party needs to base its future on more than just angry old men.

Thinking Republicans are offering to lead us:

• Sen. Romney said of Trump, “He is a phony, a fraud. He’s playing members of the American public for suckers.”
• Four-star U.S. Marine General James Mattis said Trump has “no moral compass.”
• Sen. Margaret Chase Smith in 1950, did not enable bad behavior, spoke out against fellow Republican Joe McCarthy and was praised for her courage.

We need everyone to respect both political parties all of the time. (Donald Trump was a registered Democrat from 2001-09!)

Trump’s success is nothing new. In the Book of Matthew, (Chapter 24 Verse 11) Jesus prophesied “many false prophets will arise and lead many astray.”

The Republican party needs to learn from history. Listen to what all of these lifelong Republicans are saying and reject the Trump cult of personality.

Waltz rooted in Clinton County

I have been a ditch digger, dishwasher, poultry farm chicken catcher, college student, factory worker, clerk, janitor, forest worker, office worker, and now retired. I have friends who are educators, administrators, farmers, supervisors, business owners, and work in building and mechanical trades. All of us deserve responsive and responsible representation in Harrisburg. We need our tax dollars in our district for economic growth, job opportunities, infrastructure improvement, health care and protection of our resources.Our current 76th District representative has not been able to address the many pressing issues facing our district. We need an advocate and a voice for us, the hard-working people of the 76th Legislative District. We need a representative whose roots are here.

Roots: think of an oak tree with deep roots that fan out and grip the soil. Joe Waltz was raised on a farm in central Pennsylvania by working-class parents. He has lived, worked, taught school, and supported civic organizations in Clinton County almost his whole life. Joe Waltz has many close friends here who have his back. Joe has deep roots in the 76th District, and a genuine commitment to people over politics. His number one motivation is to help people, without regard to their politics; ask anyone who knows him. His roots run deep in our central Pennsylvania ground.

I have been rooted in Clinton County for 76 years, and I urge ditch diggers, chicken catchers and everyone else to join me in voting for Joe Waltz. Vote for our district’s future.

‘Stand by’ for what?

During the Sept. 29 presidential debate, President Donald Trump was given the opportunity to castigate and disavowal the Proud Boys, a violent far-right group. Instead he publicly advised them to “stand down and stand by.” “Stand down” is a phrase primarily used by the military and police meaning “relax.” “Stand by” is more commonly used, meaning to be alert and/or ready to act.

“Stand by” for what? Given his refusal to state that he will accept the election outcome, isn’t he one very small step away from sedition, inciting treason, as laid out in Title 18 of the United States Code? And if it wasn’t sedition when Trump exhorted his more rabid followers to “liberate” the states where elected governors acted to stop the spread of the coronavirus, it certainly was a call to trample states’ rights as defined in the 10th Amendment of our Constitution.

We sure live in troubling times — COVID-19, climate change and Donald Trump. I know that there are some people who, amazingly, still support him, but let’s be sure to vote and encourage others to vote Trump and his supporters in the Senate out of office. Then under the stable and responsible leadership of Joe Biden, Kamala Harris and a Congress that understands separation of powers, we can start working on the other big problems as well as healing the wounds that this administration has inflicted on our country.

God bless America.