Letters: Steps away from doomsday; Words have consequences

Steps away from doomsday

On Jan. 22, the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) will go into effect after ratification by 53 nations and with support of 599 peace organizations, including the Green Party of the United States. TPNW will make it illegal for any nation to develop, test, manufacture, transfer, possess, stockpile, use or threaten to use nuclear weapon, or allow nuclear weapons to be stationed on its territory.

The majority of respondents to a 2019 YouGov opinion survey thought the U.S. “should work with the 8 other nuclear armed countries to eliminate all nuclear weapons from all countries in line with the TPNW.” At the present time, America has 5,800 of the world’s 13,400 nuclear warheads.

In 2010, President Barack Obama began a $1.2 trillion rebuild of the Pentagon’s nuclear arsenal. President Donald Trump submitted a FY 2021 request for nuclear weapons totaling $4.5 billion. I hope that President Joseph Biden will offer a way out of this march toward doomsday. A clean return to the Iran nuclear deal should be Biden’s first option.

The Greens propose a set of peace initiatives as a way out of our nuclear life-or-death emergency, whereby the U.S. pledge “no first use” of nuclear weapons and disarm to a minimum credible deterrent. On the basis of these and other tension-reducing peace initiatives, we could fulfill an obligation nuclear powers are already charged with under the 1970 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Words have consequences

It is time for all citizens to rise up and defend our democracy. Clearly, we cannot count on many of our elected leaders to do so, since Pennsylvania Republicans at both the state and national levels have placed their own political careers ahead of their Constitutional oaths. We must demand that Fred Keller, Glenn Thompson, Kerry Benninghoff and Jake Corman among others — who spread Trump’s outrageous lies about the election and supported and enabled him by objecting to the Pennsylvania electoral college results — go on national TV and tell the country that there was no fraud, that the election was fair and free, and that they will resign for their actions in supporting those lies. Words and actions have consequences, and each of those Republicans who spread Trump’s vicious lies must take responsibility for encouraging the mob that attempted to take over the Capitol building and overturn our democratic processes, putting everyone inside in danger. The truth must be told — loudly, and over and over — so that this never happens again!

Judges should rule on what’s legal, not popular

As a social studies teacher, I explained to 11 year olds the balance of power between three branches of government. The executive branch (the governor) implements laws the legislative branch (Pennsylvania House and Senate, aka the General Assembly) write, and the Judicial Branch makes sure those laws are actually legal. Judges are beholden to the Pennsylvania Constitution, and laws representatives write, and governors sign.

But a bill snaking its way through the Pennsylvania legislature would make judges bow to politics rather than law. Right now, all judges are elected by all Pennsylvanians. House Bill 38 proposes a constitutional amendment that would gerrymander Pennsylvania into Judicial Districts to elect judges from different slices of the Pennsylvania electoral pie. This would force judges to pander to different localities, rather than paying attention to the Constitution, laws and judicial precedent. Judges should base their decisions on what is legal, not what is popular. This amendment would erase their neutrality and make the bench political. This law would give the legislative branch power over the judicial branch. The social studies teacher in me is appalled.

We already have enough partisan politics. We need clear-thinking, unencumbered judges. This is a bad bill and representatives should vote NO on HB 38. If they force this on the people of Pennsylvania, the people should vote NO on this amendment. Eleven year olds will thank you for keeping Pennsylvania judges non-partisan.