Letters We Like

1 PARTY HAS REAL ANSWERS 

     For those who haven’t yet cast their votes, please weigh two vastly different approaches before doing so. One approach views “crime,” “Critical Race Theory,” immigration and inflation as key to their votes. Some topics are fear-mongered boogeymen, some are cause for legitimate concern and problem solving. The other approach sees the preservation of our democratic republic, threatened by candidates Masters, Lake, Finchem, Hamadeh and Republican candidates across the nation who back the Big Lie, Trump and policies that will destroy the founding principles of our nation, as key.

     Democrats aren’t perfect, no party is, but they’re working for the American people through a realistic analysis of the problems we face and corresponding legislation/actions that protect our rights and strengthen a nation emerging from the ravages of the COVID pandemic.

     Crime is a natural result of any economic downturn, needing responsible solutions, not fear-mongered finger pointing. Immigration problems need comprehensive solutions, which have evaded us for decades, but can be realized though rational analysis of push/pull factors. Inflation is a worldwide problem with widespread causes, including government spending that saved our economy from crashing during the height of the pandemic and has provided numerous new opportunities for the improvement of our nation. Like inflationary periods of the past, this too will pass.

     What won’t pass is the election of proponents of the Big Lie, leading to the very fabric of our nation being destroyed. Vote Hobbs, Kelly, Fontes, Mayes, Quezada, Hoffman, Kennedy, Kuby, Engel, O’Halleran, Kerby and Seaman. The far better approach.

Leon Cer, Casa Grande

WE SHOULD WELCOME IMMIGRANTS  

     Different, but the same. I’ve been watching the Ken Burns documentary “U.S. and the Holocaust,” and I find eerie similarities between the U.S. in the Thirties and Forties and today’s U.S.

     Before and during World War II, European Jews sought refuge in the U.S. from Hitler’s persecution. Led by such figures as Father Coughlin, Charles Lindbergh and the Bund Group’s Fritz Kuhn, many Americans didn’t want them to come, fearing they’d take their jobs and claiming money spent to help them and Europe would be better spent here at home (America First), and stating Hitler’s actions against the Jews weren’t all that significant. In fairness many weren’t being informed by a limited media of the extent of the persecution and killing.

     Today’s response to refugees fleeing autocratic regimes across the globe, fostered by the likes of Trump, Abbott, DeSantis, Ducey, QAnon, Fox and other MAGA purveyors of hate and bigotry, echoes that of the past. They’ll take our jobs, money should be spent on Americans only (America First) and regardless of condition, they’re invaders. With the access to information we have today, there’s no excuse to be ignorant of the factors pushing people out of their native countries. That knowledge is crucial.

Today’s MAGA Christian Nationalist Republicans bear a striking resemblance to the antisemitic isolationists of the past. Let’s learn from the past and turn away from them, just as Americans eventually did during WWII as they learned more and more about Nazi atrocities. Learn and vote. Turn away in November.

Leon Cer, Casa Grande

A MESSAGE TO REPUBLICANS  

     This letter is not written to persuade hardcore Trump supporters. Rather, it is for Republican voters with a sense of decency and a maddening outrage seeing your party hijacked by Trump extremists. The GOP no longer exists. Its demise started years ago with Newt Gingrich and his Contract ON America, Sarah Palin’s tea party and has now devolved into the misguided MAGA movement.

     But don’t take my word on it; when even Mitch McConnell speaks to the shameful quality of candidates your once-proud party presents for November’s election, you know something’s terribly wrong. Look no further than our own state of Arizona to see prime examples of whom he speaks. Lake, Finchem, Masters, Hamadeh, Gosar, Biggs, Lesko, Schweikert and so many more in the state races stand out as extremist sore thumbs for your party, unworthy of holding public office. The obvious choice, though it may be difficult, is to choose nation and state over a party in fealty to Donald Trump. Take a sincere look at the Democrat Party and what it has accomplished in the face of an ongoing pandemic, worldwide inflation and supply issues, and needless obstruction. You’ll see a party that is truly working for the American people. It may not be perfect, no party is, but the contrast with the party of Trump is crystal clear. You, and independent voters, must stand alongside Democrats and vote in the true interests of our nation and state this November. Do what’s right for Arizona and America.

Leon Cer, Casa Grande

MAINSTREAM GOP IS MIA  

     Democrats regularly write letters to the editor of the Dispatch, and that’s OK. Those who support the current Trumpian-style platform also write regularly, and that’s OK too. I suspect that the recurring angry letters with the standard conservative message are from those who have been reciting the same ideas for many years and haven’t been inclined to freshen them up — also OK. But where are the mainstream, traditional, financially focused, old-fashioned Republicans? Are you out there?

     The Jan. 6 hearings have presented the old-style Republicans with a great opportunity to save the party. Few Democrats agree with Liz Cheney’s politics, but every one of us is thankful to her for standing up for democracy and trying to save our republic.

     This is your opportunity to comment on the pride that you must be feeling toward her and Adam Kinzinger and the other brave witnesses that have come forward. I am confident they will be referenced as “Profiles in Courage” in the very near future for seeking the truth while knowing that their political careers were likely going to tank.

     These Republicans, and many others who have been testifying in these hearings, are the saviors of your party, and you should be singing their praises every chance you get.

     I look forward to reading a letter from a person who is proud of the Republican Party they joined before it was taken over by Team Crazy. You should be glad Cheney stepped up. I sure am.

Sandra Brown, Eloy 

GUN REGULATIONS NEEDED

     The Uvalde mass murders show, once again, the Republican Party has lost its mind. They blame everything under the sun except the proliferation of guns in our gun-crazed society. The solutions they offer, the actions they take, highlight the insanity. Ted Cruz suggests only one door in and out of any school. You might want to check with the fire marshal on that one, Ted. Gov. Abbott calls for more mental health resources, when he previously cut funding, diverting the money to the ineffective border wall. They ridiculously call for arming teachers. Why stop there? Why not arm every location where people gather? Let's fully militarize the entire nation!   

     Teachers can't be trusted to select books or teach history without being accused of engaging in CRT, but they can be trusted with guns? Hypocrisy. A prime example being Republican-backed Arizona HB 1412, which would certainly restrict classroom discussion about the recent murders in Buffalo. The puppet master NRA held its annual confab in Texas just three days after Uvalde, where Trump read off the names of those murdered in a false show of sympathy and then danced his way off the stage. America can’t allow this party to govern at any level. The phrase "Never forget" will be entirely appropriate to sound out in November's upcoming election. Once again, who did and did not stand up for common sense gun regulations and sincere upgrades to our mental health programs? Republicans did not and will not. Never forget!  

Leon Cer, Casa Grande      

THE SECOND AMENDMENT IS IRRELEVANT

     Do you own a gun? If you own a handgun or a gun that shoots more than one bullet at a time, why do you have it? Do you think it is making you or your family safer? A study in the American Journal of Public Health from 2003-2006 found that “individuals in possession of a gun were 4.46 times more likely to be shot in an assault than those not in possession. Among gun assaults where the victim had at least some chance to resist, this adjusted-odds ratio increased to 5.45.” The Harvard School of Public Health Injury Control Research Center conducted a 19-year study and found, “For every age group, where there are more guns, there are more accidental deaths. The mortality rate was seven times higher in the four states with the most guns compared to the four states with the fewest guns.”

     The Second Amendment was written at a time when there were no local police forces, ratified in 1791, when the citizenry had made a break from foreign monarchies, and a gun required reloading after shooting once. It did not and could not have anticipated automatic weapons in the hands of the citizens. It was written during a time of scarce legal resources, vast, barely inhabited areas and the need to hunt for food (not sport) by many. It was written when, in many areas of the country, one needed a gun for daily survival. But those were not even justifications for the amendment. The actual words: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” (emphasis added) Individual citizens are not a “well regulated Militia.” We have police and National Guard today.

     It is unconscionable for our government to fail to act to restrict gun ownership dramatically. It is unconscionable for our country to tolerate the level of danger our citizens, including young children, are in because it is so easy to get guns and ammunition. You have to pass two tests to drive a car. You have to be trained to be a policeman or a soldier, with numerous tests applied. Knowing, as we do, that there are racist and antisemitic people out there, and angry and disturbed people out there, why do we continue to bow to the manufacturers and sellers of guns and ammo, and make it continually easier to obtain weapons that are intended to kill people?

     Your guns are not doing you or anyone else any good. You have not been tested, checked and rechecked, trained and licensed. Neither has the domestic terrorist down the street. The kid posting plans on Facebook that go ignored. The white supremacist who thinks he knows best. The violent family member who is over the edge. 

     We owe our citizens safety and security. Instead, they get anarchy, bullets and death. The Second Amendment doesn’t mean what you think it means. Yes, we should come for your guns.

Deborah Dorman is a retired attorney and association executive and an Eloy resident.  She was "Guest Columnist" on May 27, 2022.