Austin American-Statesman letters to the editor, July 9, 2023

In supporting ultraconservative agenda,

the U.S. Supreme Court has lost its way

To the US Supreme Court: I am a 77-year old veteran who has never contacted the Court before. I feel I now must. The court has become so politicized and divided that I believe it no longer functions according to the Constitution. Recent decisions demonstrate the court’s willingness to ignore precedent and issue opinions that are clearly in support of a discriminatory, ultraconservative agenda.

My request is that you return the court to the ideals on which it was founded. Truly return to an independent court that champions all American people, rather than one where jurists let their personal beliefs and opinions dictate their rulings; one where political ideology has no place in decisions. If you don’t find a way to repair the damage to the court’s credibility, I fear for our democracy. Please restore balance and moderation to the court I have always believed in – until now.

Tom DePalermo, Georgetown

Biden can't be trusted. Fortunately, the

Supreme Court put an end to his actions.

Just as the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that President Biden had no power to declare a moratorium on tenant rental payments to their landlords, it determined that Mr. Biden’s cynical attempt to cancel billions of dollars of college student debt in order to buy votes and transfer the obligation to repay the loans to the U.S. taxpayers, was unconstitutional.

Fortunately, a majority of justices of our country’s highest court, put a stop to his action, at least for now.

Biden vows to circumvent the court’s decision.

The man can’t be trusted and is a threat to the rule of law and our democratic republic.

Kevin Holcomb, Austin

If groups don't want to be called fascists,

then they should stop invoking Hitler

Re: July 2 opinion column, "Conservatives shouldn't give liberals fodder to label the right as 'fascists'"

In the opinion piece, Ingrid Jacques bemoans "The Left" calling groups such as Moms for Liberty "Fascist" for quoting Hitler. She wrote that it was just a local chapter of Moms for Liberty and they regret the reference.

It was not a one-off. Here is Liberty University spokesman, Ryan Helfenbein, earlier this year:  “Education really is evangelism. If you don’t control education, you cannot control the future—Stalin knew that, Mao knew that, Hitler knew that. We have to get that back for conservative values."

If these right-wing groups do not want to be called fascists, perhaps they should stop advocating fascist ideals.

Steven Medlock, Austin

Quoting Hitler in group's newsletter wasn't

simply coincidence or an innocent mistake

a coincidence or a You are known by the company you keep is an old adage. When a right-wing Moms for Liberty chapter in Indiana puts a header on their newsletter with a quote from Adolf Hitler, I doubt it was just a mistake as was stated in an opinion in the Austin American-Statesman by Ingrid Jacques of USA Today.

Although it was just one chapter of this organization and should not taint the entire organization, it is highly suspicious. Don’t forget Indiana has a reputation as being a hotbed of KKK activity in the early 20th century. Today the Southern Poverty Law Center lists 29 hate or anti-government groups in Indiana, including Moms For Liberty chapters.

Richard Chiarello, Austin

Governor, stop wielding party politics

to fan flames of fear and divisiveness

Governor Abbott, we are currently in a state of turmoil this country hasn't experienced since the Civil War. Our political parties have ceased to have purposeful function. This has led to our present state of anger, distrust and divisiveness.

Instead of focusing on things we have in common or can agree on, we focus on those things that divide us and we do it with a passion that has no root in common sense. George Washington had a great distrust of political parties. He believed that political parties would divide and destroy the young United States. He said the party system “serves always to distract the public councils and enfeeble the public administration. It agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection.”

Please stop using your party and power to foment fear and divisiveness.

Candace Walker, San Antonio

Reader appreciation for Statesman report

on Capital Metro's expensive headquarters

Re: July 5 article, "All told, Cap Metro's new HQ will cost north of $100 million. Is it worth it?"

Dear Statesman. Thanks to you and reporter Chase Rogers for publishing a front-page story on Cap Metro’s insane, tone-deaf, preposterous, inflated, unconscionable and highly exorbitant price tag for a new HQ.Marty Lange, Austin

Conservatives? No, we should call Republicans

what they truly have become – regressives

All of us, media outlets especially, need to stop referring to today’s Republican party as “conservative.”This legacy label claimed by Republicans is no longer applicable.

They are not pursuing a conservative agenda. Their rhetoric and actions are instead, highly regressive. Republican lawmakers continue to support taxation that rewards the wealthy and punishes those who make less. Their decades-long attempts to block policies favored by the Democratic party and by the majority of the American people are not conservatism.

Six “conservative” Supreme Court justices have repeatedly ignored the conservative principle of stare decisis, or precedent. These are not the actions of conservatives. Let’s simply call Republicans what they really are – regressive. Republicans want to move the country backward, not forward; provide fewer rights to the public, not more; and limit voting access to enable their minority to rule. This is not conservative - this is regressive.

William Brink, Austin

Speaking of outdated labels, we haven't

been the United States in some time

United States? I am going to stop using that phrase as we haven’t been “united” in a long time. We had a president who refused to be the president for all the people. The “Dems” were considered the enemy. Now, LGBQT+ are seemingly the enemy. You guys voting for the Republican Party better think twice before voting for those anti- United States of America folks. Our rights are disappearing faster than you can say, “who is our next target.”

Jan Blythe, Marble Falls

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This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Austin American-Statesman letters to the editor, July 9, 2023