Letters to the Editor for May 22

Is Mastriano who you really want?

Republican gubernatorial nominee State Sen. Doug Mastriano ended an interview with host Michael Graham because Mr. Graham questioned Mr. Mastriano on the Jan 6th insurrection; and pressed him on the unproven claim of voter fraud. Mr. Mastriano said the host was "talking like an East German". Then Mastriano went on a tirade about the left-wing media.

In another instance Mastriano told a crowd in Gettysburg that "we have the power of God with us."

God does not take sides, even political ones — just ask Abraham Lincoln when both sides in the Civil War claimed God was on their side.

This is a typical Trump-aligned response — call people names and stop the interview. My response is "If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen."

Do you want this guy as your governor?

Robert W. Flowers

Richboro

NRA slogan proven wrong

Oh, here we go again with the thoughts and prayers.

So much for the NRA slogan that the only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. That didn't work for the security guard.

And now they're going to really get tough. They're going to charge him with hate crimes. How does that help the next mass casualties? Do they really think that a shooter is going out worrying about a hate crime statute when he's about to kill a bunch of people? This guy will never get out (hopefully). How can you make the penalty any worse?

Are they going to give him 10 life sentences? Then they said at the press conference they were calling the judge in right away to arraign him — they were really mad. Like that really matters. I don't care if they arraign him that day or next week. He's not going anywhere and 10 people are still dead.

And we we will still do nothing because we like our guns. We like lots of guns. We even have more guns in this country than we have people — and that's including the kids. It says in the Constitution that you have a right to your gun while the Declaration of Independence says you have the right to Life, Liberty and Pursuit of Happiness. Apparently one is more important than the other.

Brad Zacharia

Upper Southampton

Ward's SB 956 mustn't become law

I was wholly unsurprised when I Googled state Sen. Judy Ward, R-30, to find that I was staring at photo of a blonde, white woman wearing pearls — the Republican female archetype.

For far too long, conservative white women have been more interested in identifying as “Christian” or "Republican" than as women. This explains why they often maddeningly vote against their own self-interest — think equal pay, affordable childcare and so on. Judy Ward is proposing that she and every other woman in Pennsylvania be stripped of her right to privacy and bodily autonomy with her proposed PA Senate Bill 956 that calls for an amendment to the Pennsylvania Constitution stating that there is no right to an abortion and that no taxpayer money will be used for abortion funding.

This is a way for Republicans to get around a pro-choice governor. Throw checks and balances to the wind — a system voters chose, by the way –— to impose the will of the minority on PA citizens. With the overturning of Roe v. Wade looming, we must not let this amendment become law. We must not re-elect Ward and her compatriots, who would condemn women to forced birth and restrict access to life-saving healthcare. It should not be lost on us that these restrictions will harm Black and brown women the most. White conservative women like Judy Ward are all too aware of this fact. Anti-choice bills are inherently racist and classist. Judy, you are a registered nurse. Didn’t you promise to do no harm?

Kate Cassidy

Ambler

Vote out cowardly politicians

The editorial in Sunday's newspaper (May 8) on how politicians, mostly Republicans, are avoiding debates and legitimate and important questions on policy was right on. When have you ever seen Ted Cruz, Mitch McConnell, Kevin McCarthy or our own Brian Fitzpatrick face a live, bipartisan assembly of their constituents? They all hide in their taxpayer funded offices or behind biased political ads and dance around questions they haven’t the courage to answer for fear it will offend their base.

When I was young, I remember Dapper Dan Flood, a congressman from northeastern PA, who came to our town and delivered his campaign speech directly to the people from the back of a flatbed truck. Talk about political courage. Dan Flood was elected 16 times.

Paul Kozel

Doylestown Township

Student loan debt shifted to taxpayers, not eliminated

The current occupant of The White House and his staff believe that eliminating student loan debt is the “right thing to do.” It has been expressed that a dollar figure of $10K-$50K would be prudent. Could the real message in this plan be to cull additional voters to bolster turnout at the polls?

Regardless of the hidden agenda, I, as a veteran and a taxpayer, vehemently object to this proposal. The student loan debt is not being eliminated, but just transferred to the American taxpayer. We will be ultimately responsible for this action now and for generations to come.

My son and daughter both had student loans. Their diligence in making payments, along with some of my assistance, paid their student loans in full. We did not ask for federal assistance or debt forgiveness. We were fully aware of the financial requirements before signing a loan document. Maybe the issue with those looking at loan forgiveness is a complete absence of understanding the term “financial responsibility.”

My question: Why must I, as a responsible individual, be subjected to paying the student loan of someone with purple/green hair, studying for a master’s degree in medieval French literature?

With a stroke of the Joe Biden presidential pen in eliminating the student debt, will I and my children then receive refunds of our payment? Can we expect to see mortgage and car payments also eliminated?

Joe, you advertised yourself as the great uniter, but you again show the country that you are the divider.

Richard Etherton

Churchville

When candidates eschew voters guides, buyer beware

In my efforts to educate myself about the candidates for this week's primary election, I noticed that several of the candidates didn’t bother to respond to a set of questions posed by the League of Women Voters — questions intended to provide voters with relevant information to help them decide which candidates would presumably best represent them.

All candidates are invited to answer the same questions, and their answers were not revised/edited by the non-partisan League of Women Voters. These candidates want our vote, yet are unwilling to respond to reasonable, relevant questions? What’s wrong with this picture? I, for one, will not vote for a candidate who, through hubris, laziness, indifference or whatever, doesn’t respect voters enough to answer legitimate questions posed by appropriate media.

Cathy Morano

New Britain Township

This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Letters: Mastriano, really? Student loan shell game, oppose PA SB 956