LETTER TO THE EDITOR - EDITOR
To the Editor: My father took a keen interest in politics. He debated with relatives and neighbors and regularly shared his views with legislators by letter.
I am very much my father’s daughter. It has never occurred to me that caring about politics doesn’t make a difference. Yet when I talk with others, I often hear, “It won’t matter,” or “Why waste the time?” But as my father used to say, “It’s the squeaky wheel that gets the oil.”
For me, that means calling my elected representatives. I’m not someone who enjoys talking on the phone, but I’ve learned not to worry about being eloquent. Staff members simply record your opinion as “for” or “against”—not how persuasively you say it. Email is another quick, effective way to weigh in. Most legislators’ websites have simple forms. I also like sending postcards from the post office to make a clear, concise point.
I never ask whether it will make a difference. Maybe the outcome won’t go my way—but if it doesn’t, it won’t be because I stayed silent.
Silence, after all, is not neutral. Plato warned, “Silence gives consent.” In politics, silence can be interpreted as agreement with the status quo—or worse, as apathy. But apathy gives power to those who already have it.
So please—pick up the phone, send the email, write the postcard. Make your voice heard. Legislators are there to represent you. But they can’t represent what they don’t know.
Candace Hennekens Eau Claire Derrick Van Orden Got Caught with His Hand in the Cookie Jar To the Editor: And like a kid caught redhanded, he says, “I wasn’t taking cookies—I was putting them in!” In a newsletter sent July 9 to his constituents, Van Orden claimed the “One Big Beautiful Budget Bill” (OBBBB) would reduce the deficit by $184 billion over 10 years.
But here’s the truth: nonpartisan experts say the bill will actually add to the deficit, not shrink it. The Congressional Budget Office predicts it will add $3 trillion to the federal deficit from 2025 to 2034. Some of the supposed “savings” to fund the bill come from cutting Medicaid, Medicare, and SNAP— programs that help millions of low-income Americans, including kids and seniors. Van Orden tried to dismiss the Congressional Budget Office’s projections, blaming “Biden-era stagnation.” But actual data tells a different story: Real GDP growth averaged 3.4% in Biden’s first three years.
Unemployment stayed near historic lows, averaging 3.6% in 2023—the lowest since 1969.
In short: Van Orden is lying to defend a vote that hurts working families while helping the wealthy.
His strategy? Repeat the lie loud enough and long enough that people start to believe it. But as P.T. Barnum said: “You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time— but you cannot fool all the people all the time.”
Don’t be fooled. Speak up. Call him out.
Candace Hennekens Eau Claire
Falling short in investigations
To the Editor: From 1967 to 1986, Senator William Proxmire (D-WI) gave 3,211 speeches on the Senate floor, tirelessly urging ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crime of Genocide. According to Proxmire: “This is one senator who believes that ratification is not only patriotic, but also good foreign policy and a moral imperative.”
The U.S. Senate finally ratified the Genocide Convention on February 19, 1986. Subsequently, The Proxmire Act, officially the Genocide Convention Implementation Act of 1987, was signed by President Ronald Reagan on November 4, 1988, making genocide a federal crime.
In his remarks at the signing, Reagan stated: 'We gather today to bear witness to the past and learn from its awful example, and to make sure that we're not condemned to relive its crimes.'
Yet tragically, the United States has often failed to fulfill its obligations under the Genocide Convention. In her Pulitzer Prizewinning 2002 book, A Problem from Hell: America and the Age of Genocide, diplomat and government official Samantha Power writes: 'No U.S. President has ever made genocide prevention a priority, and no U.S. President has ever suffered politically for his indifference to its occurrence. It is thus no coincidence that genocide rages on.'
Today, there is a near-consensus among Holocaust and genocide scholars that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.
In the words of Jewish Israeli genocide expert Raz Segal: “Can I name someone whose work I respect who does not think it is genocide? No, there is no counterargument that takes into account all the evidence.”
Segal cites explicit statements of genocidal intent, mass killing of civilians, deliberately destroying life-sustaining conditions, and the systematic targeting of civilian infrastructure.
However, credible evidence of genocide is being met with U.S. denial, UN vetoes, and sanctions against investigators. Our nation is falling short of Senator Proxmire's vision. To fulfill our legal and moral obligations, the United States must lead in defending Palestinians against the crime of genocide.
Terry Hansen Milwaukee
