Letters: Living in infamy; Not enough help for college tuition
Living in infamy
On Aug. 1, former President Trump was indicted on conspiracy charges related to his attempt to overturn the election in 2020.
Congressman Glenn Thompson should also have been indicted as a co-conspirator.
On Jan. 7, 2021, Thompson participated in Trump’s schemes when he voted in Congress to nullify the votes of everyone in Pennsylvania.
No evidence of voter fraud existed, then, or even now. But that didn’t stop Thompson and about 130 other Republican congresspeople from trying to overturn the presidential election. If they had succeeded, this country would no longer be a democracy.
Jan. 6, 2021, is a date that will live in infamy. Glenn Thompson should also live in infamy for what he did.
Not enough help for college tuition
The restart of student loan payments is about to begin. The Biden plan initiative, to forgive up to $20,000 in federal student loan debt for more than 40 million borrowers, was denied in the courts. Was the Biden plan a Band-Aid for a much bigger problem? It got our attention.
Many families must try to decide, again, if “going to college” is really worth it. Total student loan debt exceeds $1.75 trillion. Are universities and federal agencies acting responsibly? And, does the circus-like atmosphere in Washington offer hope for improvements?
Consider the fact that in many countries, higher taxes are paying for college tuition. We pay less in taxes, but higher tuition. And families unable to pay in cash need loans. The accrued interests then become a significant challenge. For example, Parent Plus Loans, the loans backed by a student’s parents to help pay the costs of college tuition, allow the government to reduce the parents’ Social Security by up to 15%, in order to repay the student loan. And parents of students attending Penn State owe $1.4 billion in outstanding student debt, mostly from Parent Plus Loans. It’s a grim picture.
A new Biden initiative will prevent interest from accruing on federal loans, for those who make timely payments. It’s not enough help. Our universities do offer great education, but students and parents need help to pay for it. Talk to your local, state and federal representatives.
It’s bigger than wildfires
Even with all of the extreme weather conditions around the globe this year the article in the Aug. 2 CDT, “When every day somewhere sets a new climate record,” was sobering. Coupled with my reading of John Vaillant’s seminal new book, “Fire Weather,” I am now beyond concerned.
Vaillant details how our voracious appetite for producing energy from fossil fuels has created a fire planet ... a planet “with an atmosphere more conducive to combustion than at any time in the past 3 million years.”
A 2020 report commissioned by JP Morgan Chase and, referring to the effects of our changing climate, concluded that “it is clear that planet Earth is on an unsustainable trajectory. Something will have to change at some point if the human race is going to survive.” This wasn’t written by liberal alarmists. JP Morgan Chase is the fossil fuel industry’s largest financier!
Given the choice, this doesn’t seem a future that any of us would vote for. Or have we ... by failing to vote for leaders who are personally invested in serving the public welfare; or leaders who address, rather than politicize, the issues confronting their constituents; or leaders who have the vision and courage to make government more responsive to the will of the people?
Our quality of life in the future is hanging in the balance as never before. So our votes must be more intentional than ever before. This fall and beyond we should be — quite literally — voting for our future like never before. (#FixHarrisburg)