Letters for March 2, 2023
‘Treason Caucus’ backs Putin
This Idaho family is appalled and deeply disappointed by the not insignificant number of Republicans in Congress (aka the Treason Caucus) actively supporting and encouraging Russian dictator Vladimir Putin’s murderous invasion of Ukraine.
Calling for an end to U.S. support to Ukraine not only weakens the NATO alliance we are de facto leader of, but in fact rolls out the red carpet for Putin, letting him know that the U.S. will not challenge this and any future attempts to invade by force and enslave other free democratic nations. We are old enough to have robustly cheered the fall of the Berlin Wall and the breakup of our longtime adversary the Soviet Union in 1989. How do you think Ronald Reagan would have reacted to voices of appeasement telling Putin he’s free to take whatever he likes by force while raping, torturing and murdering civilians?
Are we really OK with Putin stealing children from their families to be reprogrammed as Russian-speaking regime loyalists and forcing once-free men into battle at gunpoint in Russian uniforms in order to push a dictator’s conquest even deeper into the same parts of Europe we helped liberate from Hitler and the Nazis?
Chris Norden
Moscow, Idaho
SB 5462: It’s a rabbit hole
Today, the legitimacy of school boards is in question. The traditional American K-12 education governors, boards are harassed and manipulated by the Office of Public Instruction and the state Board of Education. But a bigger problem is micromanagement by the Legislature.
SB 5462 mandates accommodation of very specific “historically marginalized and underrepresented groups”: people of various races, ethnicities, socioeconomic status, religion, immigration status, disability, neurodiversity, language and gender.
Do we need to lock schools into statewide curricula and instructional materials? Should we keep school boards from their duty to serve the local needs and values? Senate Bill 5462 will send the message that school boards cannot be trusted to develop and maintain a diverse, equitable and inclusive K-12 education program.
Urge your state senator to vote no on SB 5462. Follow this procedure: navigate to the ‘bill information’ page for SB 5462 (bit.ly/3Z8YApi); click ‘comment on this bill’; verify your legislative district; select your state senator; enter your contact information; select your position; add a comment (could be as short as “I oppose this bill”) and send it.
Andy Cilley
Bonney Lake, Washington
Trump supporters can’t distinguish truth
After reading this recent polling result, I wondered how this could be possible, given the rapidly escalating nature of Donald Trump’s legal problems. Even the archconservative Koch empire refuses to back Trump.
A new Rasmussen poll shows Trump retaining a commanding lead over his potential opposition in the Republican presidential primary in 2024, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Trump commands support from 52% of individuals surveyed in the poll. DeSantis comes in second place with 24% support. Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who recently announced her intention to run for president, only garners 15% support.
This powerful insight helped mitigate my confusion: “The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists,” from Hannah Arendt, “The Origins of Totalitarianism.”
Bruce Market
Spokane