Letters: Today’s Republican Party owns ‘crazy’; Predator ‘killing contests’ send wrong message

Today’s Republican Party owns ‘crazy’

If asked to cite one quote from Richard Nixon, most people would probably respond with his infamous “I am not a crook.”

But he and his Republican inner circle clearly were crooks. Nixon was pardoned but 40 members of his White House staff, senior advisors and GOP operatives were indicted or sent to prison. Politicians should be careful when they inadvertently provide the words that will define them and their era.

Now, in the Republican response to President Biden’s State of the Union Address, another Republican has provided the words that will live on to describe today’s GOP. Arkansas Republican Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders said we must choose “between normal and crazy.” She couldn’t possibly have summed up the current Republican Party any better.

With Republicans such as Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, Josh Hawley, Ted Cruz and Jim Jordan among party leaders; with the GOP allowing George Santos to remain in Congress; with Senators Rick Scott and Ron Johnson hinting at cuts to Social Security and Medicare; and with GOP threats to drive the country to default on our obligations, today’s Republican Party owns “crazy.”

History remembers Nixon as a crook. History will remember the Republican leaders of this era as truly and dangerously crazy.

Predator ‘killing contests’ send wrong message

Predator “killing contests” should be banned.

Predator killing contests award prizes to “hunters” who kill the most bobcats, raccoons, fox, fishers, coyotes and other predators.

Killing contests are not in the true spirit of hunting, are unsporting and cruel, and glorify mass killing, a dangerous message to give young generations of hunters.

Mass killing contests are inconsistent with predator best management practices, are not based on science-based wildlife management principles, and may actually increase predator populations.

Killing contests are about as far from science as you can get. Orphaned animals may increase breeding creating instability and chaos in family structures which can actually increase conflicts between coyotes and farm animals.

Numerous studies have shown the general public and many hunters object to unfair, unsporting and inhumane competitions awarding prizes for mass killing of animals.

“Killing large numbers of predators as an organized contest or competition is inconsistent with sound, science-based wildlife management and antithetical to the concepts of sportsmanship and fair chase.” -Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission

“Justification of killing contests is flawed use of science. Coyote killing contests…fail to recognize that predation is a proximal cause of mortality, but not necessarily the ultimate limit of species’ population.” -Wildlife Society

Seventy leading predator and conservation scientists signed a statement condemning killing contests on ecological grounds.

Arizona, California, Massachusetts, New Mexico, Vermont and Washington have banned killing contests.

Mass killing contest send the wrong message to our youth and do not reflect the values of most game hunters.