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(Editor’s Note: Views and commentary, including statements made as fact are strictly those of the letter writers.)
Reader not happy about terminations
Donald Trump is firing thousands of federal workers. He wants to cut $2 trillion from the federal budget so he can pass a 10 year extension on his tax cuts. Which mainly benefit the very wealthy.
The people he is firing are not getting a 2 week notice. They are not getting severance pay. They are getting fired – effective immediately. Some of you will say ‘That’s ok. They are deep state. They deserve to suffer’. Actually they are just folks working to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table.
Meanwhile , Trump is spending like a drunken sailor. In his first 30 days he took 9 trips to his golf resorts, costing taxpayers $10.7 million.
His trip to the Super Bowl cost taxpayers between $10 and $20 million.
His trip to Indy 500 cost taxpayers $5 million.
Make Autocrats Greedy Again!
Donalee Hyland
Takilma
Reader wants to dance
Thank you, Dan, for your editorial of February 19th. Unity and consensus does not flow easily from a discussion when the other side (party), is perceived as your enemy.
A change of metaphor in regards to political dialogues might be useful. It’s an idea I recently read expressed by a political observer. One shouldn’t think in terms that are usually used to describe warfare and battles, and football games, such as offensive and defensive, taking the higher ground, holding your position, salvos of facts and statistics, and similar images.
Instead, if one thought of the interchange of opinions as a dance, where two or more people are interacting together to create one consensus and find common ground, the discourse would be less likely to become an argument.
Arguments too easily devolve into heated exchanges, even foul language, hate, and loss of reason. I have found the change of metaphor useful even when talking to friends, strangers, and family members.
Surely there are better ways to get along than declaring war. Want to dance?
David Hodges
Cave Junction
Reader is fed up!
I am fed up with the vandalism being visited upon so many government agencies by that ultra-wealthy thug, Elon Musk, and his minions. There is little evidence of actual advancements in efficiency. But plenty of breaking things without understanding or caring what they are breaking, and what useful purpose those agencies might serve.
Take US AID, provider of relief to ordinary people around the world, and a minuscule part of the budget. If you can’t see the direct value in relieving suffering (with immunizations, food, medical care, etc), perhaps you can see value in making friends around the world, so as to reinforce our strategic national interests. If the US drops the ball on foreign aid, adversaries like China and Russia will happily fill the void, thus strengthening their national power at our expense. Don’t care about geo-politics, regardless of how essential it is to our national interests? Okay, then how about the damage the vandals are doing to the US farm economy? Remember, US AID is a major buyer of surplus US farm produce, thus maintaining decent prices and living incomes for farmers. Withdraw that support and you risk the health of agricultural communities.
This is but one example of agencies that provide benefits, including land management, employment, providing a social safety net, coordinating scientific data and research, enforcing laws, protecting us from pollution. Even collecting tax revenues, without which all the other functions of government would cease.
Is there waste and fraud that accompanies all this spending? Sure. I don’t like it, but recognize that these are inescapable hazards of a huge, multi-layered operation. Many government agencies address societal needs that are unlikely to generate a profit, so for-profit companies won’t touch them. So while it is useful to root out inefficiencies that can be corrected without disrupting function, such scrutiny must be done with a scalpel, rather than a wrecking ball. And public participation in the process is crucial, to determine who will be affected, how, and how badly.
So…. What can you do, fellow citizen? Pluck up your courage, and stand against this vandalism. Let your elected reps know you do NOT support this approach, and pester them until they stop the damage.
William Gray
Takilma
Reader has had enough, asks if you have
I am fed up with the vandalism being visited upon so many government agencies by that ultra-wealthy thug, Elon Musk, and his minions. There is little evidence of actual advancements in ef-ficiency. But plenty of breaking things without understanding or caring what they are breaking, and what useful purpose those agencies might serve.
Take US AID, provider of relief to ordinary people around the world, and a minuscule part of the budget. If you can’t see the direct value in relieving suffering (with immunizations, food, medical care, etc), perhaps you can see value in making friends around the world, so as to rein-force our strategic national interests. If the US drops the ball on foreign aid, adversaries like Chi-na and Russia will happily fill the void, thus strengthening their national power at our expense. Don’t care about geo-politics, regardless of how essential it is to our national interests? Okay, then how about the damage the vandals are doing to the US farm economy? Remember, US AID is a major buyer of surplus US farm produce, thus maintaining decent prices and living incomes for farmers. Withdraw that support and you risk the health of agricultural communities.
This is but one example of agencies that provide benefits, including land management, employ-ment, providing a social safety net, coordinating scientific data and research, enforcing laws, pro-tecting us from pollution. Even collecting tax revenues, without which all the other functions of government would cease.
Is there waste and fraud that accompanies all this spending? Sure. I don’t like it, but recognize that these are inescapable hazards of a huge, multi-layered operation. Many government agencies address societal needs that are unlikely to generate a profit, so for-profit companies won’t touch them. So while it is useful to root out inefficiencies that can be corrected without disrupting function, such scrutiny must be done with a scalpel, rather than a wrecking ball. And public par-ticipation in the process is crucial, to determine who will be affected, how, and how badly.
So…. What can you do, fellow citizen? Pluck up your courage, and stand against this vandalism. Let your elected reps know you do NOT support this approach, and pester them until they stop the damage.
William Gray
Takilma