Our nation suffering
Are our heads in the sand? When will we wake up?
So far, our "commander in tweet" has started a trade/currency war, thumbed his nose at the legal system, and gotten chummy with dictator rulers while at the same time alienating us from our European allies and trade partners. He sold our election process down the road, instigates hatred and violence in his fundraising speeches, reallocated federal dollars to fund pet projects, insulted previous presidents, took the U.S. back decades in pollution and environmental progress, trash-talked any and all honest climate science research, shredded the vetting and discharging process for White House staff, made fun of the due process of law and decency, and made false statements about these "accomplishments" while claiming to be the ultimate deal-maker.
When will it reach the point that enough is enough? Be it at the next election, impeachment, or restricting his use of constant, detrimental tweets to make "official" policy statements. We as American citizens must take some action to reclaim our country. We owe it to ourselves to stand up and denounce this person as unfit to serve, speak for, or represent a democracy.
Please do not let this type of behavior become a paradigm shift no one wants. Let's stand up and confront this "fake" president before our precious democracy suffers anymore.
GEORGE IMRIE
Springdale
Health-care solution
I don't like the word entitlement. Frankly I don't know what I or anyone else is entitled to. Therefore, I do not argue that anyone is entitled to health care; instead, I ask what the best health-care solution for our country would be.
The U.S. spends about 17 percent of its GDP on health care. The countries that have socialized medicine (England, Germany, France, Canada, etc.) spend about 10 to 12 percent of their GDP on health care. So why are we happy with a system that costs significantly more, fails to protect a significant portion of our fellow citizens, and where health-care outcomes are no better, and often worse, than countries with socialized medicine?
I do not argue that socialized medicine is a perfect solution, but this country is full of smart men and women capable of designing a system that delivers good health care. We have the doctors, we have the hospitals, we have the tools; what we need is the will and an imagination. Imagine if employers no longer had to worry about providing health-care benefits for employees--don't you think that would be a boon for business? Imagine the simple humanity of the situation. Many argue against abortion because of the loss of an embryo--but what about babies born to poor parents that cannot afford to provide them with good health care? What about those who lose their job and cannot afford to receive lifesaving cancer treatment?
Are you worried that, somewhere out there, someone who did not work as hard as you might receive something of value, even if that thing was merely lifesaving medical attention? Consider insulin, a proven lifesaver that many cannot afford to buy. No, it is clear to me that a well-designed system of social medicine would make our country stronger, not weaker. And it could even save us money, too.
KEVIN ELSKEN
Springdale
Time's running short
American culture evolved with the expansion of the market economy, and today's market is destroying the planet--producing global warming, ecological implosion and species extinction that makes the current culture unsustainable. As a result, national politics divides between so-called "leftists" who advocate new patterns of culture to address climate change, and traditionalists determined to preserve "the American way of life"--positions that offer little room for compromise.
Donald Trump serves the corporate marketeers who profit from the destructive economy they created and champions the cultural traditionalists who embrace the past. By discrediting science and nullifying regulations designed to address global warming, Trump benefits from a political bump produced by the resulting full employment and rising stock market. He poses as the national paladin defending tradition, while using patriotic clichés and national prejudices to disparage as un-American those who oppose his folly.
There's a wealth of information on the Internet and in the library on the science and impact of global warming. The national government blocks effective response, but for the time being one can still focus on state, county and municipal reform, encourage discourse in local and state media, critique educational curricula at all levels, and work to enlighten or remove from public office those who block essential reforms.
Those who have doubts about the looming planetary crisis would do well to read recent reports from the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (www.ipcc.ch) or David Wallace-Wells' The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming. Tempus fugit!
DAVID SIXBEY
Flippin
Employers culpable
There was a news article from a national news organization showing some little Mexican kids crying because their parents were arrested for being illegal occupants of this country. The fathers and perhaps some mothers were arrested while employed by some food plants in Mississippi. They were working for lower wages than citizens of Mississippi would. The hourly rate was not mentioned, so it is possible the wages are lower than the minimum-wage limit.
It seems to me that the employers who knowingly hire illegal employees for the sole purpose of getting them cheaper are just as guilty of breaking the law as the illegals because the employers are aiding and abetting them to continue breaking the law. Nothing was mentioned about any employers being arrested for making it possible for the illegals to continue to be in violation.
Perhaps if the authorities were to arrest upper factory officials, there would not be as many of these events occurring.
DON DUNN
Harrison
Editorial on 08/19/2019