Letters to the Editor - The Lakeville Journal - 8-11-22

Wrestling for the common good

Fifty years ago, in the summer of 1972, New Survey Finds Nixon Leading McGovern 62-23 was the NYT front page headline. In that upcoming presidential election, neither Republicans nor Democrats wanted to press hard on the June 17th Watergate burglary. Accountability was forlornly ignored, Nixon was elected. A year after the burglary, June 1973, John Dean, the White House Counsel, began his congressional testimony, the dam broke, there were tapes. Nixon didn’t resign until August 8, 1974.

With a 2024 presidential election upcoming, today’s national headlines are crammed with the Jan. 6 Commission exploring, exposing evidence on Trump’s accountability for coup planning and execution between Nov. 4 (Election Day) and Jan. 6 (election certification.)  As it was in 1972 to 1974, the nation is divided, wacky conspiracy theories abound, Roger Stone preens. Related to Nixon and Watergate, it took the American public time to assimilate indisputable evidence into an opinion of Nixon guilt — it took over two years before hundreds of Americans were stopping McGovern at airports, public places, to assure him that they had voted for him against Nixon — that “dirty dog.”  The tide of public opinion did turn, for most, not for all.

On July 24, 2022, on the campaign trail, many Republicans see a civil war was the front page Washington Post headline.  The story chillingly outlined the distrust, distain and danger of hate metastasizing across America — conspiracies and extinction theories — vast hatred stoked with misinformation campaigns/vile resentment responses. Once white robed Ku Klux Klan coerced, now it is over 500 pro-violence groups dispersed in small clusters intimating and threatening at school board meetings, town halls, democratic forums.  Today hate is well organized, well marketed.

We aren’t two packs of cultural jingoist — Republicans and Democrats — but a national population with differences being jerked about by organized extremists conjuring conspiracies that are violent, armed terrorists arriving to intimidate and leave having controlled the outcome of a local public forum.  Disagreement is part of a democracy when it is not poisoned by an underbelly of terroristic violence egged on by media/political bullhorns spewing loud lies. Daily news — any medium — is a trash packer of events (Orban in Texas), of revelations (tossed texts), of candidates who can only lose/win by theft.

Will the conservative, establishment Republican party separate itself, dig out from extremes ushered in by the Freedom Caucus then swelled by rally cries of a president running for office, in office, ousted from office? Domestic violence is the issue of law enforcement, of the courts, and of the Congress if they can, if they will.  Make no mistake about this being aggrieved individuals acting out — evidence points to it as well planned, well-staged, well-armed. In time the 2020 election will fad, not the drum beat of violence. Violence, its perpetrators are a common enemy of the good, of the nation. Time to wrest back everyday good.

“Hate, it has caused a lot of problems in the world, but has not solved one yet.”

— Maya Angelou

Kathy Herald-Marlowe

Sharon

An inspiring candidate for 5th

Over the past nine months, I have had the pleasure of spending time with a candidate for Congress here in the 5th District. His name is George Logan. George is the son of Guatemalan immigrants with Jamaican roots, and is fully bilingual in English and Spanish. George grew up in inner-city New Haven and had to work his way up the ladder to become successful. George went on to attend Trinity College in Hartford, where he obtained a degree in mechanical engineering.

After college, George went on to start a family with his wife Lisa and work as an engineer at a water company, where he has been employed for nearly thirty years. In addition to his business career, George is also a former two-term state senator, sits on the Griffin Hospital Board, and is involved in several non-profit community advocacy programs, including the YMCA, the Boys and Girls Club, the New Haven Symphony Orchestra, the Housatonic Valley Association, and BHCare.

George is extremely personable and charismatic.  Since announcing his candidacy, he has been everywhere in the District. George cares deeply about our District and the State; his message of lowering costs for families, supporting small businesses and entrepreneurs, improving our schools, and supporting law enforcement is sensible and realistic.

We all know that things in Washington have long been  broken; we cannot keep sending the same people down there to continue engaging in the same partisan rhetoric rather than looking for sensible solutions to our many problems.  George is a good man and a great problem solver and I eagerly look forward  to voting for him on Nov. 8.

Tom Morrison, chair, Republican Town Committee

Salisbury

Great reporting in LJ

Debra Aleksinas’s article, “Removing Barriers: Manufacturers collaborate to attract, retain post-pandemic work force” is just terrific journalism and offers our Northwest Corner towns a peek into a robust future. We have always been beautiful, historic and intimately scaled but our economic relevance in the new economies was not always clear.

Her reporting explains how our local opportunities for manufacturing in the 21st century  are being supported by a creative approach to solutions and collaboration.

As manufacturing returns to the United States, our excellent educational institutions, strong workforce values, recognition of the role of good wages and benefits, along with cost effective transport of materials, makes us ready to support a manufacturing renaissance right here.

Local manufacturers have formed a Northwest Regional Sector Partnership RSP… well, read the article, it is all in there and our local Region One Housatonic Valley Regional High School can explore how their campus can become part of the new economy for our families and our future.

Kudos to Debra Aleksinas for great reporting and to The Lakeville Journal for being a stalwart member of our community for 125 years.

Daly Reville

Falls Village