Seek understanding instead of blaming to create unity | Letters

According to Hamilton County's GOP chairman, rising star candidate, Orlando Sonza, told the crowd in his campaign launch speech that he was dismayed by division in the country and blamed the division on the woke movement and his opponent, Greg Landsman, for his vote against the Parents Bill of Rights.

The woke movement in our country is a critical part of an individual's right to "speak up" when marginalized communities are not treated equally. It seems that the appropriate response to creating unity would be to seek understanding, not blaming.Seeking understanding to create unity may not be the popular stance. In C. W. Goodyear's newly released biography of President James Garfield he quotes Garfield: "To be an extreme man is doubtless comfortable. It is painful to see so many sides to a subject."

It is time to unite, not to divide. It is time to move out of our comfortable beliefs, seeking knowledge and opening our minds to understanding.

Ellen McGrath, Westwood

Republicans must acknowledge the climate crisis

Regarding, "Flooding, a global crisis," (July 11): Each week seems to bring more extreme weather events due to the climate crisis. Phoenix is broiling with daily temperatures above 110 degrees; the Hudson River Valley and Vermont have been inundated with catastrophic flooding; and Atlantic Ocean temperatures in the Florida Keys exceeded 90 degrees.

How has our legislative branch in our nation’s capital responded to this crisis? After decades of inaction, our Congress finally passed a climate bill; not the whole Congress, only Democrats voted to pass President Biden’s climate bill. Not a single Republican voted in favor of it.

When it comes to the issue of climate change, Republicans are rarely heard to even utter the dreaded "C" words: climate, climate change, climate crisis, or carbon. No hearings have been scheduled in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives to discuss the climate crisis and possible solutions to mitigate the crisis. Democrats in the Senate, knowing Republicans would filibuster any proposed legislation, have not broached the subject.

Experts who study the climate crisis have suggested the best way to speed the transition to renewable energy is implementing a carbon tax. To combine the dreaded "T" word with a dreaded "C" word would be anathema for Republicans. If Republicans will not agree to a carbon tax, they must acknowledge the climate crisis and put forth an alternate plan to address it. Our children and grandchildren will be doomed to a life on a more threatening and less habitable planet unless Republicans act now.

Stephen Druffel, Clifton

Main goals of Issue 1: stop abortion rights, protect gerrymandering

Enquirer coverage of Issue 1 quotes backers of the measure who tell us they're for safeguarding Ohio's constitution against big-money out-of-state influences. How rich. How staggeringly, shades-of-Orwell rich.

They say it with straight faces while their very campaign is being bankrolled by an Illinois billionaire. This is a guy who helped fund Jan. 6 and has aided election deniers.

Please vote no on Issue 1, whose goal for November is preventing Ohio voters from a fair say on abortion rights, and whose goal for the longer term is protecting unconscionable gerrymandering. Please strongly consider voting early, to insure against something preventing you from reaching the polls on Aug. 8.

Jack Brennan, Clifton

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Seek understanding instead of blaming to create unity | Letters