Letters to the Editor by Darlene Trainor

September 29, 2022     

     Focus on the security of the southern border is election misdirection. The security of our country and the preservation of our democracy is threatened more by misguided Americans in this country than by illegal immigrants. A former Republican president tries to overturn an election to keep himself in power. He is aided by multiple Republican state and national elected officials and a mob of Americans — not illegal immigrants — storming our national Capitol building. The same former president endangers national security by stealing state secrets, then says it’s OK because he has the power to declassify them by “thinking” them declassified. Republicans say don’t look there, look at the southern border.

     We could build a Great-Wall-of-China wall along our southern border and stop every immigrant, but that would not make us more secure since the threat to the security of our country and our democracy comes from within. It comes from those who deny women’s rights, undermine our election system, dismantle the wall that separates church and state, and it comes from those who wish to rewrite our Constitution through an Article V “convention of states.” It comes from Christian nationalists and self-styled “militias” under a MAGA umbrella and from the threat of civil war if their leader, Donald Trump, is held accountable for his unlawful actions.

     In the distant past my husband and I were registered independents. We voted for Republicans and Democrats. Today we are registered Democrats and will vote D up and down the ballot because we believe Democrats will preserve democracy and voting R will lead us down the path to an autocratic state. Republicans say — don’t look there, look at the southern border. We say — preserving our democracy is the most important issue.

June 20, 2022     

     The only way public education will ever be fully funded in Arizona — the only way — is to elect a Democratic majority to the Arizona Senate and House along with a Democratic governor. Voters passing propositions won’t do it. We have recently seen that with Prop. 208 and Prop. 305. A $5.8 billion budget surplus won’t do it. Decades of Republican majorities since 1984 haven’t done it. Instead, Republican majorities have underfunded public education while using more and more public monies to fund private education.          

    Electing Democratic majorities to the Legislature and electing a Democratic governor is the only way — the only way — to ensure full funding for Arizona public education.            

May 16, 2022     

     You are wrong, Mr. Ullmann (Dispatch, May 4). President Biden and former President Carter are not the worst U.S. presidents. Former President Donald J. Trump is by far the worst. He earned that dishonor with his refusal to accept his loss to Biden in the 2020 election and his attempt to overturn those election results. His actions have led to greater division in our country, an undermining of trust in our electoral system and a weakening of our democracy. No other president in the history of our country has ever attempted to overthrow our democratic system while in and out of office. This makes Trump the worst president ever, regardless of any positive accomplishments.          

     MAGA-Trumpism is Putin’s choice for America. Don’t make it America’s choice by voting R. Vote for an America where reinvigorating our democratic republic, helping all families and children grow and prosper and rebuilding our nation is more important than protecting huge fortunes for a few or increasing the political power of Trump’s authoritarian-leaning, co-opted MAGA-Republican Party. Without our democracy, “we the people” will no longer have the freedom to address together all the other important issues facing our country.       

     Trump’s disrespect for the office of President, his undermining of the Congress, the Supreme Court and our electoral system will be aided and extended if MAGA-Republican majorities take over the U.S. House and Senate as well as state houses, governorships and state offices in November. That is the danger of voting R. American voters who cherish freedom and democracy for all and still believe it is possible to have a government of, by and for the people cannot in good conscience vote R. Defeat authoritarian MAGA-Trumpism. Vote D for Democracy in the 2022 midterm election.       

June 2, 2021 

     After reading Sen. Shope’s inspired defense of the U.S. Senate’s filibuster rule (Casa Grande Dispatch May 22), I am hopeful he will soon introduce a filibuster rule for the Arizona Senate.

     But why would Sen. Shope want to do that when the Arizona Senate operates on majority rule and Republicans have been in the majority and passing bills on party-line votes since Mr. Shope was a toddler?

     First, Shope believes a filibuster would encourage unity, bipartisanship and cooperation. All good. Also he says, “The filibuster is a vehicle for conversation and cooperation across party lines and serves to provoke meaningful legislation that betters our country as a whole.” Also good. We could sure use some of that in the Arizona Legislature.

     Shope knows the filibuster as it is used today in Washington is a minority tool for blocking the majority agenda. He also knows it would work the same way in Arizona, and he is good with the idea of majority rule, so he would never consider a filibuster rule here as long as Republicans are in the majority. Darn.

     Sen. Shope applauds Democratic Sen. Sinema for standing up for democracy by protecting the filibuster and the minority voice in the U.S. Senate. The minority voice is protected by its ability to speak, not by its ability to gain the power of an elected majority through invoking a Senate rule. Majority status is won through election, not through Senate rules.

     As long as the filibuster remains, the Senate minority has no incentive to seek unity, bipartisanship or cooperation. It gets what it wants by throttling the majority voice. Sen. Sinema can better serve democracy by voting to remove the filibuster so the Democratic agenda approved by a majority of Americans can go forward. 

May 1, 2021

     I must take issue with Kevin Holten’s use of a New England Journal of Medicine quote to support his contention that those who wear masks do so because they suffer from some sort of paranoia or “generalized anxiety disorder” and that masking is neither a necessary nor effective means to hinder the spread of COVID-19. (Dispatch, April 27) The article he cited was published in the medical journal on May 21, 2020 — almost a year ago — and found its way to Facebook.

Mr. Holten correctly cited the paragraph but failed to mention that three of the five doctors he cites (Drs. Michael Klompas, Charles Morris and Erica Shenoy) immediately objected in a letter to the New England Journal of Medicine, that the article was being used “as support for discrediting wide-spread masking.” In fact they said the intent of their article was to push for more masking, not less. Mr. Holten’s failure to mention this leaves the reader with a distorted view of the truth. For the full story, go online to the New England Journal of Medicine: Universal Masking In the COVID-19 Era. Also check out the USA Today Fact Check article by Stephen Gruber-Miller (July 22, 2020).

     To Mr. Holten’s point that we have an anxiety disorder in America, I agree, but that is a result of a pandemic of politicized and misleading information to which Mr. Holten contributed in his recent column. It makes sense to follow prudent steps recommended by the CDC and the medical establishment to safeguard the health of all against COVID-19. It also makes sense to be wary of columnists who, through intention or less than careful work, mask the truth. 

     To progress is to go forward. To regress is to go backward. The opposite of progressive is not conservative — it is regressive. The term “conservative” distinguishes politically regressive Americans from politically “progressive” Americans. Forward-looking progressives preserve democracy. Conservatives look backward to conserve aristocracy and oligarchy. The United States of America is a forward-looking nation. The backward-looking will always be on the wrong side of our history.

     What do conservatives conserve? They conserve the wealth and position of the politico-religious aristocracy — just like it was in the old days before that reality was rejected by the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. They conserve the authority of wealthy men in power who claim a divine mandate for dominion over the Earth and all its creatures. They conserve the ability of men of wealth and position to decide who in this country should be fettered and who should be free. The archaic, aristocratic and privileged order is, at bottom, what conservatives conserve.

     Progressives continually strive for a future where all can be free of that old order. Progress for them means fully realizing the promise of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. It is a promise of freedom and justice for all people, protected by a government whose very existence depends on the consent of the people. The abolition of slavery, the 14th Amendment, Woman’s Suffrage, the New Deal, the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, the LGBTQ movement and the environmental movement are a few examples of major progressive actions that moved and are moving democracy and the people of our country forward. Progressives — regardless of party — promote the advancement of human rights and human dignity secured by a government of, by and for the people.

     With Donald Trump running for a second term, interest is high for the 2020 general election. High turnout is likely across the entire partisan spectrum. While national issues grab our attention, voting for Arizona state offices in both the primary and the general election is just as important.

    Consider: Do we want state legislators who pander to big money and the interests of corporations or do we want public servants who focus on the needs of families and children and the hardworking constituents who elected them? Will it take teachers striking in the streets again to make a difference in public education funding for Arizona, or is it time to elect to both legislative chambers Democratic majorities who will support public education as a common good, making future teacher strikes unnecessary. At stake is how “We the people” will be served by those elected to represent “We the people” at the state level.

    The LD11 state Senate race has far-right-wing Republican career politician and incumbent Vince Leach opposing one of two very capable Democrats who are running for the first time. Both are women with careers of service to their country and their communities. Which of these women will face Leach in the general election depends on which one is victorious in the important LD11 Democratic primary election.

    The Clean Elections “Voter Education Guide” provides information about both LD11 Democratic primary candidates. Read it and check them out online. (JoAnna Mendoza, www.mendoza4arizona.com) (Linda Patterson, lindapatterson4azstatesenate2020.com).

Vote in the primary election and the general election, keeping in mind the importance of the state Legislature and state offices. Remember, 2020 is not just about the president.