Letters: Don’t blame Democrats; Comparing Trump and Biden

Don’t blame Democrats

There are many disgruntled white middle class families. Many are Republicans. The dream of moving up has largely been reduced. The ability to stay at least where you are in terms of spending power is declining. The rapid decline of the middle class spending power Republicans often blame others for, such as the immigrants entering the country, or the black and other races. Perhaps they even blame Democratic policies. The truth is there has been a concentration of wealth and power in the hands of a few. The capitalists are looking to maximize their profits. One easy way to do so is minimize the wages earned by the workers, and to destroy collective bargaining which can gain a leverage against such abuse. This system is way out of whack. Now three of the wealthiest people have wealth valued at over twice what the bottom half of the population has. The “good old days” were when there were limits still remaining from the Great Depression, which were largely removed in the 1970s. In those days the top marginal tax rates used to be as high as 95%. This just kept the wealthy somewhat in check, and did not impoverish them. In those days the gain in wealth was more shared, but not so now. Do not blame the Democrats, they have struggled to fix the problem. The Republicans have totally sold out to the wealthy and have struggled to keep things as they are, and it’s getting worse.

Comparing Trump and Biden

A friend who supports Trump told me that she thought that Biden isn’t a strong leader. Judging whether Biden “is a strong leader” is fairly subjective, so I’ll compare leadership characteristics of Biden and Trump.

Trump employs strong-arm tactics and violence, promotes discontent among otherwise dissatisfied persons, has no respect for the average American citizen, complains about perceived problems more than he seeks meaningful solutions to real problems, supports nationalism and racism, ignores science and expertise, and is a very poor role model for American youth. While Biden has a mild personality, not the demeanor of an angry bully, his moral compass is good and I believe that his political objectives can benefit all of us. I believe that Biden is a strong leader, not in the Trump sense, but in the sense of the Democratic leaders of most of the NATO alliance countries and of (most of) the American Presidents of the past few decades.

Obviously, I’m not a Trump supporter. I also do not support politicians who, regardless of what their conscience may tell them, support Trump in order to court votes from his base (for example, Mastriano, Oz, Perry, Keller, Kelly, Thompson, etc.). Please be objective as American democracy examines actions by Trump and his supporters that resulted in an attempted coup, and may have damaged America’s security and global reputation, and now show the potential to disrupt or corrupt future elections. Please join me in rejecting Trump/MAGA corruption in the Pennsylvania 2022 midterm elections.

No birth control method is perfect

Why do we need abortion services when there’s birth control?

Unfortunately, contraceptives are far from perfect and can be difficult to obtain, which helps explain why about half of all pregnancies in the U.S. are unintended.

Most women experiencing a crisis pregnancy use birth control. The American Pregnancy Association, supported by Focus on the Family and other Christian groups, says, “Birth control failure is more common than many believe.”

A National Institute of Health report says, “Millions of couples conceive while trying to avoid doing so.”

Contraception is a personal decision based on what’s best for the woman’s health, relationship and economic-status. Permanent choices (vasectomy and tubal surgery) have a 1% failure rate. Long-acting reversible contraceptives (injectable, pill, ring, patch) have a 7% failure rate — condoms 15%. Methods such as spermicides, diaphragm, withdrawal and fertility awareness have a 15-90% failure rate.

Although the ACA mandates free contraception, the challenges of acquiring birth control persist. Many insurance companies cover medication or devices, but not doctor visits — and most cover only one type for each method and don’t cover newly developed birth control methods.

America could do more to educate, distribute and fund contraception care (note: ACA birth control coverage isn’t tax-funded; it’s paid through insurance premiums), but as long as challenges in contraception provisions lead to unwanted pregnancies, abortion care remains essential.

In November, vote for candidates who will protect abortion access in Pennsylvania.

Clinton email differences

Many in the right wing consider the Clinton email and Trump documents at Mar-A-Lago issues as equivalent, in terms of wrongdoing. Either they don’t understand the details, or they are just looking to score political points.

Suppose you are a research chemist working on a new product with great sales potential. Your employer wants to safeguard product documentation from falling into competitors’ hands, and establishes record-keeping protocols to accomplish this. If you are sloppy in your storage of documents, in violation of company policy, you might be subject to dismissal from your position. You might be guilty of carelessness and negligence, and might lose your job.

But you won’t go to jail. What you have done is not a crime.

This is the nature of the Clinton case. As Secretary of State, she was fully authorized to be in possession of the documents in question. She was careless in her document management, by using her personal email account, and could have been fired from her job. But she did not violate any federal statutes, as concluded by DOJ and several Congressional committees.

The Trump case regarding documents stored at Mar-A-Lago is entirely different. He had no authorization to possess the documents in question. He had simply stolen them from the government. The “careless storage” aspect might apply to both cases, but the “authorization to possess” aspect is totally different.

Ms. Clinton’s possession was legal and authorized, and Mr. Trump’s was not. It is that simple.

Vote as if your rights depend on it

The Republican-led state legislature is hard at work — not passing legislation that would benefit Pennsylvanians but proposing amendments to the state Constitution (in SB 106) that would dramatically move power from the people to the legislature and political parties.

As described by the League of Women Voters of Pennsylvania – an organization without ties to any political party or candidate – SB 106 shows the breakdown of the legislative process in Harrisburg. It was passed (by Pennsylvania’s Senate and House of Representatives) after considerable backroom dealing: manipulated procedural rules, no public hearings, and little opportunity for the public to participate or even know what was happening.

Of particular concern, voters would be asked to:

Change the voting age to 21, in direct violation of the 26th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution; and to affirm a 90-day residency requirement to vote in Pennsylvania, when it is actually 30 days.

Declare that the state constitution does not grant any right relating to abortion.

Adding insult to injury, these amendments will likely be on the ballot with little notice and no educational materials. In the past, amendments have appeared on off-year primary ballots, with votes cast by fewer than 25% of registered voters.

But we can prevent this takeover. We can vote for state legislators who will honor their commitment to the rule of law and their constituents. In Centre County, that’s Paul Takac, Scott Conklin, and Robert Zeigler. Vote as if your rights depend on it – they do!