Letters to the Editor 11/6/24

We the people

To the Editor:

I have read and heard much about Pat Farr’s letter, and lots of other letters about politics. And while I don’t agree with many of them, I do think we need to hear a variety of opinions. After all that is what Democracy is all about.

I have been reading and working through a book called “Healing the Heart of Democracy,” by Parker Palmer with a book club at Paulina Springs Book Store. I’m learning what it means to live in a healthy democracy, a healthy community that can hold all our tensions and be able to respect and appreciate each other. I’m learning to be the person that can hold the tension of differing opinions, and why that is so important in a healthy Democracy.

Demonizing a person with a differing opinion, or the editor of the paper that published it, does not create a healthy discourse which is required in a healthy family, a healthy community, and a healthy democracy.

My hope is I can become that person, and that my community will as well. We were that people at various times in history, but we have lost our way. Let’s try and recover ourselves and our interaction by not following the lead of unhealthy conversation in the political arena or the news and get back to healthy conversation that really causes people to step back and think, and makes things happen. It can start with all of us and will expand to our families, our community, and our interactions in letters to the editor and ultimately to those in power.

We need to be “We the People,” people that can hold tension and conflict and then transform it into something meaningful and worthy of respect for everyone within it.

Teri Stratos

Socialism

To the Editor:

Now that the voting is finished, I would like to address socialism in America. Many folks are afraid of it. I would like to remind them that public schools, libraries, roads, police and fire departments are all things created by socialism.

This means everyone who can (pay taxes) pitching into these things for the public good. If you are against socialism, don’t use these services!

Karen Sweigert