I find myself in an uncomfortable position. nnIf you are concerned and worried and fearful and scared of the secret right-wing conspiracy to one day abolish all of the federal government social programs that help people (especially Social Security), then you have to worry about who the president will be now and in the future. If s/he agrees with these extreme conservatives, then the lower and middle classes will be at-risk and in danger.
As much as I dislike him, President Trump is really not one of them. He has no political beliefs or theory or philosophy or ideology that he believes in. But they do. Mike Pence does. Pence is an extreme conservative and Social Darwinist. It is actually safer for the lower and middle classes to have Trump in office and to be the Republican nominee in 2020 than a real Social Darwinist like Pence who these extreme conservatives would love to become President.
And it bothers me that a lot of national Democrats don’t seem to care about this secret extreme right-wing conspiracy because many of them are very well-off financially and will never need any help from the social programs while the rest of us do and will.
Yet, Trump has already ruined our country with his hateful-talk. I believe that it is too late for it ever to be repaired. The war between Republicans and Democrats will never soften. It only seems to be getting nastier and uglier. We will always view and treat each other as “the enemy.”
It looks like we will never achieve what Robert Kennedy hoped and dreamed for when he said, “Our goal and task must be to tame the savageness of humankind and make gentle the life of this world.”
This is very troubling.
At this point, we need a hero.
STEWART B. EPSTEIN, Rochester, N.Y.
I had the opportunity recently to teach a class to a committed group of healthcare regulators/professionals on how hospitals and healthcare organizations can support the nations burgeoning homeless population while maintaining a safe therapeutic work environment. As you can well imagine, the challenges are real, daunting, and growing with each passing day.
As an instructor, educator, and a security professional I’d be remiss and guilty of gross negligence if I didn’t point out the damning casual factors that are the foundations for our nation’s homeless tragedy. One pillar is the growing income inequality that at this point is unrivaled in US history. When five lone individuals own more wealth than the bottom 50% of the nation’s population, we are defining a nation and democracy in crisis if not a terminal state. Our present income inequality, left unchecked and unchallenged, will shred and rip apart those fragile bundles of ideas and principles that hold together American democracy. We also need to take a stark unwavering look at where our federal dollars go.
Reality is that the United States is spending over $1 trillion annually on endless war, the military and nuclear “modernization.” We are spending over $200 million an hour on military spending which is the single greatest contribution to climate catastrophe. This is neither hyperbole or exaggeration. Over 50% of every tax dollar goes to our war machine, our “military industrial complex” that Ike warned us about in his landmark farewell address.
I admire, respect and honor those healthcare professionals dedicated to supporting our surging destitute and homeless populations. However, in order to affect real and sustained change, we the people will need to meet head on the damning realities of both income inequality and US. militarism. Our future depends on this.
JIM SAWYER, Edmonds, Wash.
Regarding Mary Sanchez’s article [“What Have We Learned About Sexual Assault from the Kavanaugh Case?”] in the 11/1/19 TPP about Robin Pogrebin’s and Kate Kelly’s book on Brett Kavanaugh: I disagree with the conclusion that although a drunken sot in his youth, he became a better person over the next 35 years I think he just became more adroit, more cagey. He no longer apparently resorted to physical abuse but learned to use his judgeship as a legal cudgel, as, for example, in the case of a teenage immigrant rape victim trying to obtain a legal abortion, where he was the dissenting opinion doing everything he could to delay her case until it would have been too late for the operation to be legal in the state where she lived. I saw his wife standing next to him in a news clip, and she looked cowed.
I don’t think Kavanaugh’s basic attitude toward women has changed, just his tactics. The Heritage Society, Trump, and the Republicans know this, and that is why they unethically saw to it that he made the Supreme Court. They knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that he would vote to overturn Roe v. Wade, denying women the right to choose their own health care, forcing them to give birth against their will. How is this really ethically better than what he did to Christine Blasey Ford and Deborah Ramirez?
PATRICIA BRAY, Savannah, Ga.
Joe Biden has frequently apologized for his votes on several important legislative issues over the decades. He stated his vote for the invasion of Iraq was a mistake (along with many other Democrat senators and House members). It took him three years to say that he regretted that vote.
In 1991, he made derogatory accusations against Anita Hill and helped confirm a candidate for the Supreme Court, Clarence Thomas, who has been an extreme conservative member of that body. Thanks Joe! He apologized to Anita Hill after several decades.
In 1994, he was an important booster of the crime bill which resulted in mass incarceration, especially of minorities. He still denies the impact of that legislation on the criminal justice system.
As a senator in 1999, he was a major backer of the legislation to repeal the Glass-Steagall legislation, passed during the Great Depression, which had maintained a separation of commercial banking and investment banking. President Bill Clinton signed the repeal into law. This resulted in the 2008 crash, a financial crisis which, among other disasters, caused widespread foreclosures. There were over three million foreclosures in 2008, up over 81% in that year. One out of every 54 households lost their homes. Thank you once again, Joe! He now says that the legislation had unforeseen consequences.
With dozens of serious issues facing this country, we cannot afford a slow learner in the presidency: climate change, income inequality, our decrepit justice system, inadequate health care, international relations, sexism, racism, misuse of firearms, the infrastructure and immigration policies.
DON PILCHER, Bellingham, Wash.
The “Real Centrists” in the 2020 presidential election [“Who are the Real Centrists?” by John Buell, 11/15/19 TPP] are Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren! The US political spectrum is heavily skewed to the right, with Bernie (a Democratic Socialist) and Elizabeth Warren (a Social Democrat) as far left as the spectrum goes. In the overall scheme of politics these two should be a the very center of the left/right controversy...Bernie being the socialist with who condones a substantial amount of free market enterprise, and Elizabeth the capitalist who promotes welfare and market regulation. To the left of Bernie is pure socialism where the govt owns all means of production, and Communism where there socialism with a planned economy. To the right of Elizabeth are the Democratic and Republican parties, and Fascism. It is too bad that the 2020 election isn’t between these two true centrists...Bernie a little to the left, and Elizabeth slightly to the right, of the true center.
BOB BOGNER, Aspen, Colo.
“I’m not a crook” was far too small a lie to be effective. Trump, tells lies so large as to overshadow their very background They are also repeated and then echoed by shills. The students of propaganda recognize the form. Start on an epic scale, secure corroboration, discredit normal authority and then repeat. Trump has maintained his base using these tactics. When his case does not seem to add up; he declares his detractors wrong and contemptible. How could his credibility not have vanished in all quarters after some of his audacious claims. ” My campaign will be totally self funded … Mexico will pay for the wall-… who is David Duke? … no collusion … no puppet … no quid pro quo … all those women are lying … tax cut will reduce deficit … China will pay for tariffs … economy will grow at over 3% ... deep state …”
This madness survives partially by those duped by a fast shuffle, but also by the many who will accept a corrupt and destructive route to their political goal.
PAUL BENSON, Hawarden, Iowa
From The Progressive Populist, December 15, 2019
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