Let’s not dwell on past injustice in America
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
To the Editor: I knew from my first opinion article that getting rebuttals and criticism comes with the territory. I’ve always hoped policies and/or ideas would be debated, without personal attacks. Mr. Gutenberger only disparages himself by calling President Trump and me names.
The Minneapolis city council passed a resolution to disband its police department. I looked up “disband” for Mr. Guttenberger. It means “cause to break up and stop functioning.” And, yes, it was done by Democrats. Defunding is being proposed elsewhere, but 58 percent of Americans oppose it and 31 percent approve, in recent polling.
The collateral damage of this movement is the demoralization of good people in the already vilified profession of a police officer. We’ll always need police officers to protect our citizens. Why will they be willing to work in the environment we’ve now created where they are brought up on charges for simply doing their jobs, as happened in Atlanta?
Police department problems are less about racism and more about police unions which, like all public-sector unions, should be illegal. Does Mr. Gutenberger think that fleeing an offi cer should be acceptable behavior? Criticizing an officer’s split-second decisions with the benefit of hindsight isn’t fair, to say the least.
It’s easy to throw around the racist label like candy at a parade. It accomplishes exactly nothing positive, especially when it’s not even true. The “fine people” quote Mr. Gutenberger uses is a misrepresentation (a lie) of what the president said. Anyone can Google it. The president was clearly referencing those who wanted statues torn down … and those that didn’t.
An actual racist quote is Joe Biden’s “you ain’t black” if you vote for Trump. In response, Black Entertainment Television co-founder Robert Johnson called Mr. Biden “arrogant and out of touch” and said he should “spend the rest of his campaign apologizing to every black person he meets.” Democrat Senator Tim Caine recently said “the United States didn’t inherit slavery, we created it.” In truth, even at the peak of the slave trade, Africans kept more slaves for themselves than they sent to the Western Hemisphere.
Slavery is documented back as far as 6800 B.C. In 2017, Alliance 8.7, a coalition of state and non-governmental organizations estimated “some 40 million people enslaved worldwide, as well as 152 million “child laborers.” That was only three years ago, but you hardly hear a word about it — yet, the U.S. is an unjust nation for our actions before the 1860s?
Mr. Gutenberger said President Trump was preserving the “names of disgraced, slave-owning, loser, Confederate generals.” They are a part of our history whether we like it or not. Those generals as well as plantation owners were largely Democrats. Furthermore, those who don’t learn from their history are destined to repeat it.
Black Lives Matter is racist by its very name. If Black Lives Matter were reputable, they would care about All Lives and certainly all black lives … not just those that fit the narrative. Why don’t the lives of black police officers and others killed during the rioting matter? Why don’t dozens of blacks mowed down in Chicago (14 deaths this past weekend alone) and other cities every weekend matter?
One important answer to helping blacks lies in education. Democrats oppose school choice, which would greatly benefit black students — many of whom are now locked into bad schools. Democrat supported affirmative action, the very definition of racism, does nothing to advance better education nor does dropping ACT/SAT requirements by California universities. The real problem is our failing primary and secondary public schools.
The upcoming election is about stark choices: Do we want a president who’s at his best hiding in a basement or a man of action who has taken the economy to new heights for all Americans — and will again? Do we want a globalist puppet to preside over the demise of our country or a nationalist who puts his country’s needs first? Do we want a president whose family is in bed with China or one who is tough on China? The disastrous results of Democratic “leadership” are now on display all over the country. Do we want to reward this behavior?
I am very sick of hearing about “white privilege.” Despite our shortcomings, all who live in this still-great country are privileged. Just look around the world! No one should be made to feel guilty about their race while others get a free pass to do anything because of their race. There’s also no excuse for continuing to dwell on injustices from long ago and miss out on the tremendous opportunities available to all of us right in front of our faces in the here and now.
Randy Wokatsch Town of Marathon
Trump is unfit to be president
To the Editor: John Bolton is a well-educated, conservative, right-wing, Republican that has worked closely with four Republican presidents, so when he states President Trump “is not fit for office” and does not have “the competence to carry out the job,” people should pay attention.
Our president has proven he is not fit and is incompetent on a daily basis by lying to the American people, but the problem is far worse than lies. His willingness to invite foreign involvement in U.S. elections and to separate babies and small children from their mothers demonstrates traits making him unfit to lead a nation the rest of the world looks to as a leader in democracy and compassion.
His declaration that “tariff wars are good and easy to win,” that the coronavirus is a “hoax,” that he believes Vladimir Putin over every intelligence agency in our government, his cut of $693.3 million from the Center for Disease Control in February, and his recent Tweet, “Do you get the impression the Supreme Court doesn’t like me?” all indicate a high degree of incompetence. Bolton gave an additional reason to declare Trump unfit when he said, “I am hard-pressed to identify any significant Trump decision during my tenure that wasn’t driven by re-election calculations.” The inability to put the welfare of the nation above his own interests has been noted numerous times, just recently by his insistence on having a political rally in Tulsa, against the advice of every medical expert in the nation and in full knowledge of COVID-19 infections spiking dramatically.
The merits of policy can be debated, but failure to understand how our government works, an inability to understand and respect science and a constant effort to divide rather than unite are the marks of incompetence and they define Donald Trump.
Bryce Luchterhand Unity
