Letters to the Editor - 11/11/2020

To the Editor:

Recently read an article on the divide between those involved politically and those watching from the sidelines, which assumed those not involved politically must not care and will not vote.

Quite the contrary.

Minor example can be seen in a Home Owners Association of over 100 owners one finds there are usually around six who will get involved or run to be on a board and another five will help out in various ways. But if asked, everyone has opinions because they care. Think about how hard it is to get folks to run for office in any town, including Sisters. Are you volunteering to join the various boards and committees? Does that mean you do not care? And is there any doubt, after reading The Nugget once a week, that people truly care politically?

The vast majority of U.S. citizens of any party are referred to as the Silent Majority (SM). For decades the SM was and remains the centrist voters. Only since the 1980s have the silent ones gotten so sick of politics that apathy started setting in and they voted less and less and less. Then it all came to a head in the 2016 general election, showing how very bad it can get if we the public do not take our voting rights seriously. Much was wrong with that election but for this letter, note that over 10 million regularly voting voters, did not vote.

For this election, the Silent Majority have been in shock for the treatment of immigrants from around the world, children pulled from families at our borders and have watched the escalating suppressive treatment of BIPOC. Across the nation, the SM (polled over decades) think that there should be single-payer health care, that we should address the climate crises, that marijuana is not a narcotic, that women have the right of choice and equal pay for equal work, that LGBTQ should have rights to marry and also be treated equally, that education should not put a person in debt for life, that prisons and public schools should not be privatized and that separation of church and state is fundamental to any democracy.

The centrists are paying attention. Today, the Silent Majority is revived and they succeeded in quietly breaking voting records in every state.

Susan Cobb

To the Editor:

I get so frustrated when Trump supporters say that Democrats want Communism in America. Not since the hysteria of the 1950s Red Scare has there been so much misunderstanding about the difference between communism and socialism. Communism is basically anti-capitalism wherein everyone supposedly shares equally in wealth and work, but is usually corrupted by vicious dictators kept in power by violence and favoritism. Under communism the common person is usually poor and deprived of personal self-determination and opportunity.

Under democratic socialism, capitalism flourishes but the needs of the common people are supported by society, to assure quality education, housing, food and healthcare are available to all. Individual choice, opportunity, and hard work are prized and equality is one of the highest priorities.

Are there challenges to making all government systems work? Yes, of course, none is perfect, but much of the modern free countries of Europe are socialist democracies. So, get out your high school government texts and re-read the chapter on different models of modern systems of government.

Sharon Booth

To the Editor:

Veteran’s Day originated at the end of hostilities between the Allied nations and Germany that went into effect on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918; “the war to end all wars.”

The percent of Americans serving on active duty is usually about 1 percent of the population or less. Americans owe our very freedoms and the rich life we enjoy to the few who in effect sign away their freedoms to ensure ours. When we honor our veterans on November 11, are we seeing actual respect for the real guardians of our Constitution, Bill of Rights and our very freedom?

It’s the soldier that gives us freedom of the press not the reporter; yet we are seeing the most corrupt and egregious attack on veteran’s honor by fake news spewing hate, lies, disinformation, and propaganda 24/7. Our nation’s founders intended for the press to monitor our leaders not select them. Where in the Constitution does it mention the AP having authority to designate official results of an election?

We are seeing an outright attack on the honor of World War II veterans by the far left pushing for the very Marxist/Socialist tyranny hundreds of thousands of our veterans died for to defeat.

In our universities and schools across the nation the memories of our veterans’ sacrifices are being trashed by the progressive hate machine teaching our children America is evil and founded on racism. They want to rewrite history that in fact shows we are the most generous and moral country on the earth.

Over the past four-plus years we have seen a vicious and corrupt attack on the voting system that veterans have gone to war to protect, not the politicians!! Think it would stop with the 2020 election? Does the vote we cast control the outcome, or can malicious software and corrupt partisans manually counting votes decide everything? To honor our veterans all must demand honest, open, and bipartisan agreement from legally submitted votes.

When it comes to simple respect and honor of veterans I, as a veteran, find it extremely offensive when witnessing disrespect for our flag and National Anthem as self-righteous individuals refuse to stand during a ceremony.

Veterans sometimes say, “There are no atheist in fox holes.” I can’t help but feel that America is in a huge “fox hole” facing death and desperately needs a revival as One Nation Under God.

Jeff Mackey

To the Editor:

I was so happy to see so many of the businesses in Sisters come together to hand out candy to the kids on Halloween. It was disappointing to see that The Nugget Newspaper did not mention it in the November 4 issue. Yes, the traditional parade was canceled due to COVID-19, but the businesses in town decided that the trick-or-treating tradition needed to go on for the kids.

My family was one of many that volunteered at a local business to help hand out candy. Not only did the kids have an incredible time, but the parents could not thank us enough. It was such a success, that we had to go to the store two additional times to purchase candy, I truly believe it was the biggest show of kids in years.

It’s a shame that The Nugget did not recognize that our community and incredible local businesses came together to put on an outstanding event for our kids.

Jennifer Burroughs

To the Editor:

We will soon have a Democrat as President and with his election, the calls for civility, cooperation and concessions. Laudable goals but none of which will be reciprocated by the Trump opposition.

We started this nightmare when millions of voters supported a patently unfit person to be president. This was in spite of (or maybe because of) his boasting of serial sexual assaults of women, racist comments about immigrants, swaggering braggadocio and a torrent of lies.

We now have had four years of the same, spiced with rampant overt corruption, the encouragement of violence against political opponents, targeted kidnapping of children, including infants, torn from their parents and put in cages, and lying about a deadly virus coupled with gross mismanagement of the response to this pandemic. Trump lied, Americans died. And don’t try to tell me he didn’t. He admitted this in taped recordings of his conversations with Bob Woodward. None of this seems to have deterred the approximately 70 million who voted for this dangerous charlatan.

In a letter published on September 9, Bill Kemp wrote, asking Trump supporters “What would it take for [you] to abandon [your] support of him?” I could have warned him that to the extent anyone actually answered his question, the answer would be “Nothing.” (Although some wrote to criticize his letter, none addressed his question).

Of course, Trump supporters have already claimed that Biden’s election was “illegitimate” because they assert without evidence that voter fraud was so massive that it invalidated Biden’s vote margin of several million (4 million as of when I write this). As political scientist Henry Farrell recently wrote “Democracy works only when losers recognize that they have lost.” Trump supporters won’t. Until they give up their conspiracy theories and express confidence in facts and science, we will continue to have this conflict.

Michael Wells

To the Editor:

I just want to commend the many volunteers who donated their time and materials to construct the new Peterson Ridge Trailhead sign. Our trails are a gem for our community and the organizations like STA and SAW and the USFS, along with the City, continue to amaze me in regard to their selfless efforts to maintain our trail system.

Chuck Ryan