Voice of the people: August 6 2023

Republicans will have some explaining to do

While we witness extreme conditions around the globe, let us make no mistake and be perfectly clear; the Republican party refuses to acknowledge climate change is real and dismisses any attempts whatsoever to counter its effects. Instead, they continue to ignore science and claim climate change is a hoax.

If you are a member of the Republican party, I hope you are practicing how you will explain your support of your party’s position to your children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren in years to come. And while we are at it, how will you explain your party’s position on a woman’s right to remain in control of her body without government interference to your pregnant daughter, granddaughter, or great granddaughter who must forfeit control of her body to the government during her pregnancy?

Or your party’s position on LGBTQ+ issues to your children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren if they come out to you as being gay, lesbian, or transgender?

Elections have consequences and eventually someone dear to you will hold you accountable for who and what you support(ed).

Michael Schwam, Lakeland

Donald Trump re-nomination must be stopped

I voted for Trump twice, though not in the primary in 2016. I cannot do so again.

The only way to stop his almost certain re-nomination this time is by somehow reaching his most ardent supporters. This, I know, is almost impossible. The best chance, however, might be to devise a commercial illustrating by video clip after video clip that this man is the definition of a narcissist, and airing it over and over.

Clip after clip of him demeaning others - he’s a nobody, she’s a pig. Of him bragging - I know more than the generals, never before in history, etc. Of him being two faced and abandoning people - saying glowing things at one time, and later blasting them at another time. His misogynistic bent - grab women by the p… And perhaps ending with the questions “Doesn’t/Shouldn’t Character matter in a leader?” and/or “Would you like this kind of person if he was your brother-in-law, or someone you worked with, or just met on the street?”

R. Edwards, Lakeland

An open letter to followers of Donald Trump

From interviews on TV, I’ve heard some of you say you don’t care what laws the former president has broken; you like him and you’ll vote for him.

Some of you say it’s a political witch hunt, there are no crimes. At rallies or speeches onstage, you give him standing ovations, so I know how deep your feelings of loyalty go. But are you listening to what Donald Trump is actually saying? We’ve heard him threaten prosecutors outright who dare to convict him with evidence of crimes against our United States of America, along with veiled threats that he has many more angry followers than he had on Jan. 6th.

If he’s voted in as president again in 2024, no worries, those convictions will be swept away. He promises to overhaul the Judicial Branch, the Legislative Branch, expand the power of the Executive Branch of government and arrest those who went against him. If so, political parties will become unnecessary, and the 2024 election will be the last one.

Never mind who controls the House of Representatives or the Senate or the DOJ. Checks and balances over the three branches of government won’t work anymore.

If we put all that power in the hands of one man, we will have ourselves a dictator! Donald Trump will become part of an exclusive club, joining Russia’s Putin, North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, China’s Xi, and all those South and Central American autocrats from which people are fleeing for their lives and their families’ well-being.

Jean Hanson, Dundee

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Voice of the people: August 6 2023