Letters: Happy days not here yet; Republicans responsible for broken system
Happy days not here yet
It is a relief to see that Georgia voters rejected one of the worst candidates in U.S. history. But it isn’t happy days again. The big story of the 2022 election is that U.S. voters, including Centre County voters, delivered the House of Representatives to the anti-democratic insurrectionists of the GOP. Our Constitution will be under threat from within our own Congress for at least the next two years. Let’s take care of one another, and remind ourselves that we still can vote our way out of this wasteland of the free.
Republicans responsible for broken system
Republicans have ceased to exist as a serious political party. They supported a career criminal as president, sought to suppress voting in virtually every state and have no platform or agenda for the country, including no policy to combat human-caused climate change, which, if ignored, may kill most or all human life. Their judicial appointees supported Citizens United, which allowed unlimited money to enter political campaigns from anonymous sources. The party shows no interest in the sorry record of the U.S. in almost every policy area, from gun murders to infrastructure to carbon reduction to education to the world’s highest health care costs.
Our country is no longer first in any category except obesity, arms spending, gun murder rate, health care costs and rich-poor gap (among modern nations). Republicans die from COVID at twice the rate of Democrats because they were often convinced that wearing masks and vaccinations is a form of oppression (most of them, of course, got polio shots and flu shots). Most Republican members of Congress are now simply supporters of the rich. They passed a huge tax bill that cut the tax rate on corporations already making obscene profits, needlessly ballooning the deficit.
Strong central government is essential if we are to regain our ability to function in a world where change is out of control. The political system is broken and Republicans have broken it.
Come together to end ‘us versus them’
What do women, African Americans, Native Americans, Latinos, Jews, gays, trans people, Asian Americans and those with disabilities have in common?
Answer: Marginalization.
By virtue of our heritage or circumstance we are too often disadvantaged in American life.
Issues of marginalization make life challenging for underrepresented and disadvantaged communities. But whether marginalization occurs due to ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, religion, disability status or age, what these groups have in common is stronger than what divides us.
If we could find a way to coalesce, to strengthen our sense of solidarity, we would surely outnumber the haters and could create a voting bloc for equality and justice.
How do we find common ground and bring people together to tackle our shared challenges?
For one thing, we could drop our individual discomfort with “the other.” All of us in these marginalized groups are “other” to the white male dominant class, yet we sometimes unwittingly practice the same marginalization that divides us. If we want to change the culture, we must stop this and come together to end the “us versus them” bigotry and intolerance of any American.
Isn’t it time to end marginalization and work toward social cohesion? Are there any organizers out there who might consider taking this on?
Glad to support ‘free’ programs
The CDT article in the Dec. 12 issue about Paxlovid stated that is has been “free, courtesy of the federal government.” Ain’t nothin’ free, folks. If it has been provided by the federal government, then our tax dollars have been paying for it. I’m in favor of that. Road and bridge building and maintenance, public schools, public libraries, state and local parks, SNAP, state and local police are also just the start of a long list of “free” programs ... all for the common good. I for one am happy that my tax dollar supports these “free” programs.