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Letters for Aug. 3, 2022

High Court hypocrisy

This session of the U.S. Supreme Court will go down as one of the most disastrously consequential in its history. They ruled against public safety by striking down a New York law limiting guns in public. They have also ruled that Maine taxpayers must support Christian schools, the American equivalent of Islamic madrassahs. Other items on their Christianist agenda is the cancellation of abortion rights, and a ruling allowing prayer in public schools. Conservatives are all about “states’ rights” (anti-abortion laws), except when they aren’t (gun safety). The only consistent thread in their rulings is the imposition of Republican priorities that are too unpopular to be enacted through legislation.

Add all this to the disgrace of a Supreme Court justice who would not recuse himself from a ruling on the 2020 election that his wife had an interest in. This arrogant conservative majority was engineered by the court itself in the 2011 Citizen’s United decision. That opened the floodgates of money into politics and enabled Republicans to access unlimited donations from corporations and billionaires, gaining enough power in the Senate to ramrod through the justices they wanted. Soon, after shredding the court’s reputation with nakedly partisan decisions, this session will be over. Then watch the six Republican appointees make the rounds again, speechifying at friendly venues, protesting that they are a nonpartisan branch of the government.

Ted Hensold

Spokane

In response to Supreme Court rulings

A civics lesson reminder: The United States is a Constitutional Republic. Much to the chagrin of the left, we are a nation of laws not whims and desires.

The left declares the Supreme Court hypocritical in ruling to restrict New York state’s ability to deny the majority of state citizens’ concealed-carry permits while allowing states to regulate abortion. The court is adhering to the Constitution! It is the left which is hypocritical by demanding states be allowed to regulate firearms and denying states the right to regulate abortion. A classic example of the left wanting whatever it wants, regardless of the Constitution. The fact is there is a Constitutional right to bear arms; “… the right of the people to keep and bare (not locked in a safe) arms, shall not be infringed.” Pretty simple. At the same time I have not heard a single argument in a letter to the editor or by a congressmen pointing to anything in the Constitution which establishes a right to murder an unborn child. Please, is it in the Seventh Amendment? Article Four? The commerce clause?

After 70 or more years of the Supreme Court ruling by leftist decree, ignoring the Constitution, we are finally served and protected by a Constitutional Court. Perhaps people should actually read the Constitution, particularly the 10th Amendment; “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

David Barnes

Spokane Valley

Accepting accountability 

An old Spanish proverb: “Take what you want, and pay for it, says God.”

We want it all but seem outraged when we must pay for it.

Cheap goods mean cheap labor. We can’t have cheap goods made in the U.S. and high wages.

If you want to get rid of the homeless, everyone must pay for it. It is going to cost us dearly to provide housing and case management to deal with chronic drug abuse, mental illness and issues that put people on the street. And remember, they won’t go voluntarily. Just ask them.

If you want leaders obsessed with personal power, expect a dictatorship, not a democratic society. If you accept democracy, you will get what the majority votes for, not what you want all the time. Vote.

If you accept a liar and cheat as your leader, expect to get cheated and lied to. If they call on you to be enraged and violent, expect rage and violence.

If you want government to be “Christian,” don’t expect freedom of religion.

If you want to ban books or controversial thought, don’t expect critical thinking.

If you discriminate against other’s personal rights, don’t be surprised at losing yours.

If we want to get rid of abortion, expect to pay taxes for early childhood education, child care, higher wages and cheaper education. Poor children and fetuses are equally important.

Better health outcomes. The price is cheap health care available to all as a basic human right. Expect higher taxes.

Just saying.

Keith Hegg

Spokane

Spot on, Ms. Harger

I enjoy reading the daily “Letters to the Editor” as it reminds me that while I may not agree with what some say, or think, on occasion, a true gem appears in print. For those who, like me, enjoy an authoritative and exquisitely articulated letter, go back and read “Response to Sue Lani” by Elaine Harger in the Monday, July 24 paper.

Ms. Harger — recipient of the 2022 Herb Biblo Outstanding Leadership Award for Justice and Equality — surely expressed what the silent majority of us think and are fed up with columnists (of all stripes) telling us what’s wrong with society’s ills, using their personal bias views of the world. Putting to rest what Sue Lani Madsen was peddling was a breath of fresh air. Thank you Elaine for helping us yokels better grasp objective reality.

Howard Braham

Spokane Valley

Who is above the law?

We always hear the phrase, “no one is above the law.” After following politics on television including the Jan. 6 hearing and reading articles in The Spokesman-Review and the New York Times magazine, our former president and many members of congress have broken laws. Trying to overrule the 2020 election, spreading lies about the integrity of dominion voting machines and failing to live up to their oath of office.

Their punishment? Usually getting a reprimand or losing a committee assignment. It seems to me that only politicians are above the law. Let’s change the situation this fall and vote the law breakers out of office.

Nancy Burke

Spokane



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