Letters: National security a serious concern; Education must be priority in PA
National security a serious concern
I am still in shock over the news of the classified documents (along with the empty folders) found on the FBI raid at Mar-A-Lago.
I know a bit of what mishandling classified documents means. I used to have a security clearance — long ago, when dinosaurs roamed the earth, and I recall how paranoid we were about them. Happy when we did not need to use them, and wary when we did, and hoping that we could be done with them and return them to their proper place. I do not know if the security officers we dealt with were liberal or conservative, only that their job was to make sure we took our responsibility seriously.
It shocks me the attitude of too many Republicans acting as if it was not a serious matter. Aren’t Republicans supposed to be more concerned with national security? Were they not the ones who rightly denounced Alger Hiss and maintained that the death sentence against Ethel and Julius Rosenberg was a proper one?
Some, not all. There are many like former Governor Tom Ridge — former head of NSA — who knows what a national security risk is, and this is why he backed Joe Biden. He probably disagrees with Biden on a lot of things, but he knows that when it comes to national security he can be trusted.
Why do so many Republicans still trust a man who Governor Ridge believes is a national security risk?
Education must be priority in PA
There’s been heated debate over President Biden’s student debt relief for low- and middle-income college borrowers. Discussions sometimes revolve around faculty salaries or the high cost of college, but the issue begging attention is America’s ambivalent feelings about education.
The severe national teacher shortage is one symptom of that. While people have grown accustomed to expensive medical bills, which they expect will be paid by insurance or government, they also think schooling should be inexpensive.
According to a Lending Tree study conducted in 2021, salaries for university faculty, when adjusted for inflation, have increased a mere 9.5% in the past 50 years. The same study notes a 3.1% increase in wages at publicly supported universities.
Most college costs have skyrocketed due to a staggering increase in administrators, reduced state funding (check out the small percentage of Penn State’s funding that comes from the state), and improved amenities, such as student fitness centers, designed to attract a shrinking number of college-bound students in this competitive environment. (An educated populace increases our tax base and reduces welfare.)
Meantime, when adjusted for inflation, schoolteachers nationwide have experienced a 4% drop in wages. At the same time, school shootings have increased; public school board meetings have become increasingly hostile; schoolteachers are coping with more family dysfunction; and debates rage about what teachers teach and how they teach it — usually without input from teachers themselves.
Josh Shapiro knows an educated populace is crucial to Pennsylvania’s future and he supports fair and equitable state funding.
Conklin’s voting record reassuring
A recent op-ed page had a letter from Terry Kordes who took issue with Scott Conklin’s voting record, itemizing six bills that Conklin opposed, and urging folks in the 77th House District to choose an opponent for him.
I found the specifics of that voting list reassuring rather than alarming, because I’ve always trusted Scott Conklin to represent our best interests. He thinks in long-range terms about what is good for our planet and our country as well as for Pennsylvania and Centre County. He focuses on the larger picture, seeing beyond immediate needs to the issues that will affect us and our children in the future.
The newsletters he writes for his constituents are always thoughtful and informative.
Unlike many others I could name, he cares about more than just getting reelected. I only wish he was my district representative so I could cast my vote for him!