By whatever criteria this president is judged — constant, verifiable lying to the public in matters large and small, a full-blown incompetence to formulate rational national policies and effectively execute them, and an immature personal skill set that leads to chaos — for Donald Trump, we are witnessing a self-serving reality show played out on a very large stage.
America deserves better. Unfortunately for our nation, the Republican-led Congress is providing few checks and balances to Trump’s excesses, although a large majority of Americans think Trump is on the wrong track.
I believe a big tent Democratic ticket at the federal level is a necessary alternative to the Trump explicit and hidden agenda and the look-the-other-way Republican Congressional majority. In my opinion, core Democratic alternatives should include:
1. American elections free of foreign interference and gerrymandered voting districts, as well as limitations on funding related to elections spent by political action committees, corporations, and wealthy individuals. Reinstate the original concept of one-person-one-vote.
2. For all Americans, accessible, affordable, quality public healthcare across the spectrum — from children’s health to women’s health to senior’s health — and everything in between. Healthcare in America should be an individual right — not a luxury.
3. Accessible, affordable, quality public education — pre-k through college — as well as job skill or special training as needed through life. Teachers should not be forced to spend their own money on student supplies.
4. Basic civil liberties, opportunities, and respect for all Americans — regardless of their age, gender, race, sexual orientation, religious beliefs, or physical/mental challenges. Support of basic human rights for all people worldwide.
5. Protected clean air and water and the natural environment - as well as environmentally safe living and working space for all individuals in America. Active measures to slow the increasingly harmful rise in man-made global warming. Nature effectively absorbs only so much human abuse.
6. A major upgrade to public infrastructure, including but not limited to, roads and bridges, railways, waterways, airports, seaports, power generation (toward renewable energy), power grids, water and sewage and solid trash facilities, and communication networks (including cyberspace).
7. Stronger — not weaker — consumer protections.
8. A safe and sane society, where parents can send their children to school without fear those children may be killed by semi-automatic or automatic weapons of war designed to inflict maximum mass damage. This involves restricting the manufacture, sale, and use of such weapons primarily to the military.
9. Wasted taxes should always be avoided, but public taxation for public programs decided by public input through the legislative and executive processes is distinctly American. The public sector complements the private, and vice-versa.
10. Being an American means we demand and have real choices in what and who we vote for, and we exercise our God-given right to vote.
PAT V. POWERS, Utopia, Texas
The iconic CBS news show 60 Minutes has received accolades for its unrivaled courage in interviewing a celebrated adult movie star for her now infamous affair with Donald Trump. After all, CBS defied an enraged Donald Trump and his threatening horde of lawyers and ran with their groundbreaking interview. And our collective pulses were thundering with the revelations that our president demeans and degrades women and lies like a Persian rug. Given the hype one would think that 60 Minutes would receive a Pulitzer Prize and perhaps a Medal of Honor for their heroic stance and earth shattering revelations here.
However, before we stand in line to kneel before the CBS vanguards of wisdom and courage and truth, one should take an objective step back and ask CBS about those events that 60 Minutes has never covered. When is the last time 60 Minutes or ANY major media outlet ran a serious story or any story on the epic and unimaginable horror that our illegal wars have wrought on Iraq? When is the last time 60 Minutes ran a story on the impact of depleted munitions uranium on the people of Iraq and the exponential increase in cancer that is decimating their population? When is 60 Minutes and their heroic scribes going to do an exploration and expose of the United States “30 year Nuclear Modernization plan” that embedded in its brilliance includes the first strike use of nuclear weapons for non nuclear crisis situations? When is 60 Minutes going to do a meaningful hour long special on the growing threats to humankind from environmental destruction, climate change, and our willing participation in this, the sixth great mass extinction? When is 60 Minutes going to do an hour-long expose on the horrific impact and epic growth in income inequality in the United States? This a subject that has created what one writer has called “The development of a permanent American underclass.” When is 60 Minutes going to run an expose of the unspeakable war crime perpetrated by Saudi Arabia with full support from the United States on the literal starvation of Yemen?
In these mundane areas that threaten global and human survival CBS and virtually every major media outlet have s been about as vocal as an oil painting. I am not trying to minimize the stress and angst brought about by a courageous news team’s decision to interview a porn star about her illicit encounters with a cruddy, marginal, and mean spirited narcissist. I am sure the threats of legal retaliation were real and felt. However, there are looming issues that are pushing mankind towards the precipice and in this regards CBS and 60 Minutes and every major news outlet have betrayed their profession and their responsibility to the citizens they purport to serve. And the full impact of this betrayal may never be quantified-but that it has contributed to the deaths of millions of people is not even open to debate.
JIM SAWYER, Edmonds, Wash.
The Washington Post Fact Checker, which analyzes, categorizes and tracks every suspect utterance by the president, recently reported that he has in his first 406 days in office made 2,436 false or misleading statements. He has undoubtedly thus set a new, untouchable record for presidents. Again, he is “winning, winning, winning”!
This kind of winning, however, is abnormal. One is prompted to wonder, if the president’s lying is not, perhaps, being driven by some mania – mendacimania? – a craving, obsession or excessive need to lie, or by some phobia – veraciphobia? – a fear of telling the truth, because truth telling has not always served the president well.
Whatever the reason, we are stuck with a president who lies uncontrollably. He is, perhaps, truly suffering from some new, as yet unseen affliction, that we all must now tolerate as a new norm for a president. Lucky for President Trump, he has time to adjust and maybe overcome this malady, because his personal physician surmises that he could possibly live for 200 years. That would be another untouchable Trump record!
Judging by the prevalence of lying by other members of his administration, there also exists the scary possibility that Trump’s affliction is contagious! Could colluding or obstructing be the catalyst?
R. AMOS, Severn, Md.
The opioid crisis shows us one more disastrous outcome that our country faces because the rich and powerful control what our government sees as important. “The White House Council of Economic Advisers estimates that the economic cost of the opioid crisis was $504 billion just in 2015.” (the Washington Post)
There is no doubt that many have been calling out for action to stop this calamity, yet Congress had its eyes on other matters. Mark Chalos, a lawyer now suing the industry, has said “The toll is tremendous … a preventable catastrophe … made entirely by an industry that operates in plain sight.” (Washington Post) When will our citizens say “enough” and vote out those who serve only the moneyed interests?
LEE KNOHL, Evanston Ill.
The letter from Lee Knohl (“Welfare for Millionaires,” 4/15/18 TPP) makes a very good point about welfare money going to billionaires (i.e., like Walmart’s) actually. It is not the workers who are getting wealthy from Walmart’s practices.
The thing is, “The Poor” in general barely survive on a welfare program. It’s the businesses and landlords and doctors and lawyers and bankers and schools and entertainers and restaurants, etc., who profit from the money welfare supplies “The Poor.”
Looked at in that realistic way. The Poor are supporting us. Take welfare away and we all are poorer, even “The Rich.”
Think about that, Republicans, when you denigrate “The Poor” and welfare.
CHERYL LOVELY, Presque Isle, Maine
Thank you, Art Cullen (in “Relief for Some,” 4/1/18 TPP), for urging Congress to live up to the ideals engraved on the Statue of Liberty … and for inspiring all of us who read your words to show compassion for the “dreamers” and other undocumented aliens who seek asylum in the United States.
How surprising it is, that so many Americans who say they find inspiration in the Judeo-Christian belief system, either don’t know (or conveniently forget) Leviticus 19:33-34, which says:
“And if a stranger sojourns with thee in your land, ye shall not vex him. But the stranger that dwelleth with you shall be unto you as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thyself, for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt; I am the Lord your God.”
DAVID QUINTERO, Monrovia, Calif.
From The Progressive Populist, May 15, 2018
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