Trump-Pence sign triggers thoughts on white nationalism: Letters

Trump-Pence sign triggers thoughts on white nationalism

July 18 — To the Editor:

Last month, I passed a Trump/Pence sign in Maine on my way to a friend’s house but resisted the urge to stop. I didn’t know what I would say, although I’ve been thinking about it ever since, so here’s my letter to that sign’s owner:

First of all, why do you have that sign up now?

Second, I understand that some people didn’t want to risk their way of life so they voted for Trump in 2016. I agree with much of what they say about the arrogance and elitism of the ruling/political classes. On the other hand, I assume that “way of life” includes helping each other in a variety of ways. If so, I agree that we humans often have to help each other when we need help. I’ve been the beneficiary of this generosity many times.  Yet, I also assume that most people — even those who may not look like us — want this, too.

Third, I recently reread "KKK — The Second Coming" by Linda Gordon.  She writes that the KKK in the 1920s believed in American superiority, in ”true” Americans who were white and Protestant. The KKK combined the tactics of a social movement with elections such as big rallies, they were suspicious of science, were anti-Catholic and antisemitic.  “True” Americans were white, Christian, and born here in the United States. What was especially horrifying in what I took from the book was the similarity to what some people believe now. Is that what you believe? This does not seem to be the first time in our history that some people fear others.

Finally, perhaps we should talk about these things.

Judy Ullman

Portsmouth

Here's how to make anti-abortion laws unconstitutional

July 19 — To the Editor:

The Supreme Court has ruled that since there is no mention of abortion in the Constitution, the ruling in Roe v. Wade was made in error.  However, a clear reading of the First Amendment and the establishment of a new religion, “The Church of the Renunciation,” would leave no leeway for our most “conservative” of Supreme Courts to tolerate any anti-abortion legislation.

The First Amendment states, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”

Abortion is offensive to some religions, and these religious believers, with the help of the Supreme Court, have managed to foist their beliefs upon the majority.

The right to an abortion should be considered as exercising one’s freedom of religion.  The argument against abortion is fundamentally a religious argument and hinges on the question of when life begins. Only the most conservative of religions take the view that life begins at conception. Islam teaches that Allah waits 120 days before giving a soul to the new fetus. Many Jews consider that life begins at birth.  In fact, the Torah in Exodus 21:22, considers the killing of a child in the womb as property damage, not as murder.

“Should men quarrel and hit a pregnant woman, and she miscarried but there is no fatality, he shall surely be punished when the woman’s husband makes demands of him, and he shall give [restitution] according to the judges’ [orders].”

Significantly, the Bible is explicit in its language that the word, “fatality,” does not refer to the induced miscarriage!

States which pass laws making abortion equivalent to murder are being even more severe than Old Testament law. States that rule that life begins with the first detectable heartbeat are basically imposing a religious rule and violating the free exercise of religion.

What we lack today is a religion which requires abortion as a matter of faith. Hence, I propose founding a new church, the Church of the Renunciation. This is a serious situation requiring a serious solution.  Following are some proposed commandments for this new religion.

God’s first commandments to Adam, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

Adam’s success in all the above requires an amendment, and hereby stands the church of the Renunciation, open to all faiths for which God’s new commandments do not create a conflict.  So long as one professes loyalty to the church, one must obey these new commandments:

Commandment Number 11: Thou shalt have no more children and art required to use birth control.

Commandment Number 12: Should measures to control birth fail, thou art required to seek an abortion before the fetus has reached 120 days of age.  Violation of this commandment will be punished by immediate excommunication from the Church of the Renunciation.

Commandment Number 13:  Thou shalt make contributions to Planned Parenthood.

Armed with defending religious practice, the United States attorney general could be suing all those states which pass any kind of legislation against abortion.

Robert Jesurum

Rye

We can trust Chris Pappas in perilous times

July 15 — To the Editor:

Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court  (SCOTUS) took away the right to abortion established in Roe v Wade 50 years ago. This decision exposed the radical disregard to precedent of the Justices in the majority.  This is the first time SCOTUS took away a fundamental right. Now, many states are banning abortion.  Bans do not stop abortions–they just make them go underground.  Before Roe many desperate women made perilous decisions and got illegal abortions.

GOP lawmakers (state and federal) are intent on outlawing abortion with no exceptions for rape, incest, or life of the mother.  They would deny women essential healthcare and human rights in terms of bodily autonomy.

Chris Pappas has served the people of NH for many years with a solid record of supporting reproductive rights. Now In the US Congress, he is a member of the Pro-Choice Caucus.  He supports and co-sponsored the Women’s Health Protection Act that would: 1) establish in federal law the right to abortion and 2) prohibit states from imposing limits to abortion making them more difficult or costly to obtain.

Safe and legal abortion must be secured for everyone in America. Regaining a right denied is a struggle but it can be done.  An immediate step is voting for pro-choice candidates up and down the ballot this November.  I intend to support and work for Congressman Pappas’ reelection because I trust him to do the right thing. I urge every voter in the First Congressional District to do likewise.

Joan Jacobs

Portsmouth

In America today, banks and corporations are the new kings

July 18 — To the Editor:

246 years after its inception our American system of government has become the royalty from which our forefathers believed they escaped. Now banks, financial institutions, pharmaceutical entities and other corporations, special interest groups invisible to the public eye have replaced the British king. Just as the king’s egotistical nonsense knew no bounds, much of our current government threatens our nation’s very existence as the world has come to know it.

Our humanity is becoming inhuman. We’ve lost equilibrium, spirit and valor. Alas, at full speed our “leaders” are making us into an also-ran and are much too full of themselves to recognize what they’ve wrought.

Shame. The human ego knows no bounds and seems determined in its adolescence to do itself in.

Why are we sending to Congress people who don’t know that they don’t know? Most likely because those who elect them don’t know either. They are “speaking” the same incomprehensible thoughts and words, a result for all the world to see, of our nation’s refusal to educate properly. Critical thinking in America has become a relic. These lawmakers (I use that word with utmost uneasiness) are making America look foolish in the eyes of the world. Can there be anything worse than an American legislator not being able to think and speak logically?

And, what about money, that forever source if evil? It seems to have seeped into all niches and crevasses in our nation’s governance?

Maybe it’s me … my day to grumble. Or to be humble. I don’t know. What I do know is that I love this nation, the way it was and can be. What we’re doing to it is not progressive. It’s regressive. And there are uneducated, unthinking individuals menacingly cheering it on. Startlingly sad. Shocking. Shameful. Supremely S-C-A-R-Y.

Dick Rozek

Portsmouth

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Trump-Pence sign triggers thoughts on white nationalism: Letters