Where is your line?
We have just completed six months of the second Trump Administration. I find myself looking back to this past January. I remember the absolute terror I felt knowing the carnage his administration would wreak on our country. At that time I considered asking people who voted for and supported Trump some questions.
I wanted to ask, “Where is your line?”
“At what point will you withdraw your support for Trump? There was no way to predict how his campaign promises would be enacted. Did you believe he would only go after serious criminals? Did you believe he would release the Epstein files? Did you believe he wouldn’t touch Medicaid?”
Six months later we can see what happened. I still have questions for Trump supporters.
“Are you okay taking SNAP Benefits (food) from children? Is it okay to take Medicaid coverage from disabled people? Is it okay to have, use and build more concentration camps in the USA? Where is your line?”
— Maureen Woodlock, Beaufort
Let officials focus on work for which they were elected
It used to be that the states decided whether and how to regulate spending in campaigns and elections. But a series of SCOTUS decisions culminating in Citizens United have warped the issue of freedom of speech into a prohibition of common-sense legislation to reduce the influence of money in our political system. The result? Our elected representatives now spend up to 70% of their time fundraising for elections instead of legislating solutions to address the needs of this nation. And we’ve learned all kinds of things about the influence of billionaires.
Americans from every walk of life, regardless of political positions, understand that corruption and waste accompany big money in politics. There is an initiative moving forward to pass a Constitutional Amendment to return transparency to political funding and recognize human rights over those of corporations and other non-human entities. It’s time to free up our elected officials from fundraising so that they can focus on the work for which they were elected.
Polling from the Pew Research, the Brennan Center, and others, indicates majority support for the provisions of the For Our Freedom Amendment. Already, more than 20 states and 800 cities and towns have passed resolutions formally calling for the Amendment. To learn more at https://americanpromise.net.
— Carol Brown, Beaufort
Books banned again?
The Beaufort County Board of Education met on August 23 to again review books previously approved by parents and teachers. What is going on here? This is Groundhog Day all over again. It is obvious that some parents are bored and have nothing to do except create a problem: getting rid of “undesirable” books in school libraries.
Do these parents realize that we do not live in the stone age? If they believe that their child would be “influenced” when reading books that have sexual or “undesirable” content, then they are severely underestimating their child’s knowledge. It is quaint that some people are worried about books now when kids can access porn or anything else any time on their phones or computers.
The First Amendment to the Constitution guarantees freedom of speech. In a 1982 decision (Board of Education v. Pico), The Supreme Court considered whether a local school board violated the Constitution by removing books from a school library. The Court held that “… the right to receive ideas is a necessary predicate to the recipient’s meaningful exercise of his own rights of speech … .” The Board of Education lost the case.
For those who are busy wasting the school board’s time with banning books: Do you know if your child is looking at some “undesirable” web site, even one of the banned books, right now? If you don’t have a child in school, the contents of a school library are none of your business.
— Terry Gibson, Beaufort
Get over it
Leave it to those who can’t get over a Trump win by demonstrating during Fox & Friend’s Peter Doocy visiting Beaufort.
This was not a political visit, just Fox & Friend’s highlighting beautiful towns across our country. NOT POLITICAL! Too bad some people can’t appreciate that but prefer to ruin it for others by demonstrating their political views. Shame on you.
— Susan Wiley
