Letters: Doctors’ political parties; Vote for Planet Earth
Editor’s note: The Centre Daily Times welcomes letters endorsing candidates in the Nov. 8 election and will accept letters that are received by Nov. 3. Letters are subject to editing, must be based on facts and should avoid attacks on other candidates.
Doctors’ political parties
I read, with interest Wednesday’s front page CDT article “Centre County doctors show deep concern about Mehmet Oz as Pennsylvania’s Senator.” It was interesting because doctors don’t usually express political opinions publicly. Yes; they were all doctors but I believe readers should have been told that they were also all Democrats.
Vote for Planet Earth
Democrats up and down the leadership ladder work for Americans.
Republicans have created a grievance world while doing nothing to alleviate the suffering of their followers, nor anything to solve the problems of real people.
They have no beliefs, no policies, no compassion.
Biden was elected to help the people of this country, even as he faces almost insurmountable obstacles.
To date, Biden has created 9 million new environmental and clean energy jobs — jobs for our present and our future. According to Earthday.org, the $369 billion in Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act is earmarked for building energy infrastructure that will cut carbon emissions by 40% over 10 years. Domestic clean energy and transportation balloon with $260 billion to increase clean renewable electricity generation and decrease carbon emissions by 80%. There’s $80 billion for Electric Vehicles (EV) rebates so more of us can buy them — and $1.5 billion in incentives to reduce deadly methane, plus $4 billion to combat drought.
In 2030, the average American family can expect to pay $1,025 less on energy. There are up to $7,500 in tax credits for the purchase new or used EVs, $7000 average savings on rooftop solar installation, and up to $14,000 in rebates to buy energy efficient appliances.
These moves will cut air pollution and prevent 3,900 premature deaths, 100,000 asthma attacks and 417,000 lost workdays by 2030.
It’s time to vote for Planet Earth. Vote for Democrats up and down the ballot — for Governor (Shapiro), U.S. Senate (John Fetterman) and State Representative.
Don’t reelect election deniers
Following the 2020 Presidential election, 139 Republican Congressional Representatives refused to certify the official results of a legitimate election. From Pennsylvania, eight of nine fall into that Hall of Shame who denied the vote of the people. Most of these men are running for reelection. They are: Representatives Meuser (PA-9), Perry (10), Smucker (11), Joyce (13), Reschenthaler (14), Thompson (15), and Kelly (16). They join 300 Republican election deniers seeking political office at the local, state and federal levels. They declare that 7 million Pennsylvania voters should be ignored, that their opinions matter more than facts and the law.
How serious is this matter? Take Congressman Scott Perry. He was the driving force behind the plot for President Trump to install Acting Attorney General Clark who was programmed to call for new slates of false electors. Perry knew that such action was seditious and would throw the peaceful transfer of power into turmoil. For this he asked for a presidential pardon. Perry was willing to sacrifice the constitutional right to free and fair elections.
Consider one more Republican running for office, gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano. He too is an election denier. He refuses to acknowledge the constitutional right of separation of church and state, swearing that the United States is a Christian nation. What better proof than Mastriano’s contract with Gab, a far-right social media site that promotes white, Christian, anti-Semitic nationalism.
What would it say about Pennsylvania should we elect and reelect these Republicans to office in 2022?
Attack ads feature political lies
Politics has always been antagonistic with both parties claiming greater knowledge, experience and skill than their opponents. But in my lifetime as an informed voter, I’ve never seen so many false and misleading political ads as in this year’s midterm. Lies have been normalized and now pose the greatest threat to our democracy.
The ubiquitous attack ads against U.S. Senate candidate John Fetterman are a case in point:
Fetterman, and the nonprofit Braddock Redux, bought a number of properties in Allegheny County with tax liens, issued years earlier, filed against them. The tax issues were resolved by 2012, yet the ads imply Fetterman is a tax-dodger.
Fetterman was set to begin an MBA at UConn in 1993 when his best friend died in a car crash. That traumatic experience put Fetterman on a new trajectory. He joined Big Brothers/Big Sisters and AmeriCorp. In the mid-2000s, he started a GED program in Braddock, and later ran for mayor, a $150-per month job he threw himself into. His parents believed in his servant-leadership and had the means to support him, which is admirable.
Fetterman supports the decriminalization and legalization of marijuana in Pennsylvania and its removal from Schedule 1 status because of its established medical uses and relative safety. Fetterman has never called for the legalization or decriminalization of all drugs, which is GOP-propaganda.
The foundation for everything I taught as an educator and parent was that truth matters. On Nov. 8 let your vote be guided by facts, not political lies.
Don’t forget actions in 2020 election
Just in case you don’t remember, here are the three politicians running in Centre County (House Districts 81 and 171) and (statewide Governor) this November who tried to have our votes voided in the 2020 election. These men will say that they were just objecting to irregularities in the voting process, however those irregularities had no material bearing on the outcome of the election and the courts rejected their objections. Here is what they asked the Pennsylvania Congressional Delegation to do.
“We the undersigned members of the Pennsylvania General Assembly urge you to object, and to sustain such objection, to the electoral college votes received from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania during the joint session of Congress on January 6, 2021.”
Signed: Kerry Benninghoff, Rich Irvin, Doug Mastriano
If our congressional delegation had done as requested our votes would have been thrown away and not represented in the election. Is that OK with you? Our right to vote is fundamental to our Democracy.
Make your vote count!
Much on the line in midterm election
If you are voting only because of gas prices and inflation, please remember social security, voting rights, reproductive rights, freedom to love who you choose, sensible gun legislation to protect our children, separation of church and state, the survival of the planet, the integrity of elections and democracy itself are all on the line as well. This is also not your typical midterm election. Inflation and the price of gas are global problems affected by factors beyond any one party or president’s control. Inflation will improve. If we lose these other freedoms and if we jeopardize the future of our children and grandchildren because of the cost at the pump, we are lost as a nation and maybe we deserve what we get. Please look at the whole picture folks. See the forest for the trees before it’s too late. This will be the most important midterm election of our life time. May God Bless Us All.