Go Joe Biden! and the need for bipartisanship are among Tri-City Herald letters
GOP senators huddle in unity
Significant legislation has been passed to address climate mitigation, drugs costs and tax fairness. Go Joe!
Once again, the Senate Republicans were glued tightly together in their opposition. No new ideas or solutions, but ever united against anything proposed by the other side. Meek Republican senators keep their heads down; never any hint of inner-party dissension, let alone any new solutions (except rarely Romney). Hide from blame or responsibility in the herd.
Only independent Democrats get press for a bill’s failure, never all the other lock-step marching republican senators that also voted against it. Masterful right-wing media manipulation
Remember this: when it came time to fight climate change, drug costs and tax cheats, all the Republican senators turned their spineless backs. Ignore the problems. Never propose or debate alternative solutions. Always just vote together against whatever the other side believes is a good idea, regardless. Always.
Is it likely that the RNC-financed Republican senatorial candidate Tiffany Smiley will act any differently, or uniquely independent?
Mooo ….
Michael Harrington, Pasco
Fringe interests capture politicians
A cancerous change in our culture has occurred. We have allowed anger, violence, disrespect, incivility and greed to replace consensus, decorum, truth, fact and fairness. Political leaders are exacerbating this malignancy with their grossly dishonest and divisive rhetoric. Most of them are more accountable to fringe and self-serving party interests than to the general public. The significant money they earn from these interests helps them get elected, thereby perpetuating our decline.
Fringe and selfish party interests are preventing us from solving our most pressing problems. We are being murdered by gunfire at one of the world’s highest rates, we are denying women the right to abortion after 50 years of guaranteeing this right, we are handicapping our police, we are gifting “free stuff” to the undeserving, we are losing the war to ensure fair and free elections, and we are going nowhere in deciding the fate of DACA children.
We need to hold our leaders accountable for resolving these and other festering issues. We should definitively establish what the majority wants through bipartisan national and state referenda. Politicians who do not support the results and are unwilling to compromise should not be elected. Isn’t this how democracy should work?
Russ Treat, Richland
Abortion ruling undermines court
On June 24, the Supreme Court overturned the fundamental right to abortion established 49 years ago in the Roe v. Wade decision. The decision came from a court that recently included three justices nominated by President Trump.
The majority opinion was that the original Roe v. Wade decision was inconsistent with U.S. “history and tradition,” when many Christians thought life began at the moment of fertilization and terminating a pregnancy was murder, regardless of any associated circumstances.
Therefore, a pregnant woman had no rights to speak of, and a state could force her to bring a pregnancy to term.
This Roe v. Wade reversal does not take into account that many Christians and our more multicultural and multiethnic society of today does not accept this concept of when life begins. This reversal is also in conflict with Amendment 14 of the Constitution, which states in part, “… No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States ….” It will also create a hardship for women in large areas of the country where abortion access is not available or limited.
No wonder Americans have so little faith in SCOTUS.
William Petrie, Richland
