I think the Democrats need to deflect attention from the GOP’s forced focus on racism and start a focus on the dogmatists that have the racist term all wrong. They think it is about relationships with others and about race. We need to change thinking in the rust belt and elsewhere. We need a campaign pointing out dogmatism.
Dogmatist is a word for behaviors that are racist but affect middle and lower class White people. We know that most “racist” legislation and function impacts a larger portion of Whites than BIPOC/LGBTQ+ folk. In Heather McGhee’s “The Sum of Us,” we see over and over that the patterns established to hurt minorities since the Voting Rights Act have hurt struggling Whites too: lack of built real estate value, massively expensive education costs and debt, lack of opportunity and medical care vulnerability to manipulation as well as poverty.
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds’ rebuttal speech after the State of the Union speech boasted that she has cut the state tax from over 6% to 3.5%. It bespeaks the loss of education and infrastructure that imperils and impacts ALL Iowa citizens. Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face! Dogmatism is a term that covers ALL citizens impacted by “racist” legislation. Until the American public sees injury to our society and economy, and the fact that the 16 state governors she bragged about helping in this “downsizing” are in fact hurting our country, we will have a tough time encouraging the voting poor to change their racist behavior and attitudes? They need to realize racist behavior reflects back on their lack of well-being. Dogmatists inflict wounds on themselves.
DONNA STARR, Blaine, Wash.
Wayne O’Leary, who usually makes good sense, has forfeited forever the right to call anyone “willfully stupid.”
Two statements in his Southern Apologist screed [“Another Woke Travesy,” 2/1/22 TPP] have to be called out!
“Treated as family” and “Stories that he fathered slave children” are so jaw droppingly silly that I have to reply!
One: They were family members! The Randolphs and the Jeffersons traded their own children to each other for sex and profit!
If that offends someone, deal with it! It’s a fact!
My own family has been “passing for white “ since around 1850 and that DNA revealed fact has many of us denying something that the US Supreme Court recognizes!
Jefferson’s real accomplishments will survive his shortcomings!
BILL BUNCH, Tazewell, Va.
Whenever I read about legislators, prosecutors, and groups of concerned citizens, determined to ban books which they consider harmful to children’s morality, it astonishes me that the Bible is not among them.
When I first read Ezekiel 23:1-20), I was already an adult, but nevertheless I found in that mini pornographic masterpiece a cesspool of human sexuality described in the most indelicate language one can imagine.
Do pious parents encourage their children to read those “sacred” stories? And when they absorb them, do they become kinder and more charitable?
The Bible also features incest (Genesis 19:30-36), death by gang rape (Judges 19:22-26), and human dismemberment (Judges 19:27-29) – all of which, of course, erudite doctors of divinity will explain as profound lessons that (when well understood) will elevate our spirit.
Yes, many folks consider the Bible to be their main guide to virtuous living. But has anyone read it in its entirety without finding something they’d rather not have their children read?
DAVID QUINTERO, Monrovia, Calif.
Putin is cornered. [See Editorial, 4/1/22 TPP] But so is NATO and its countries, which will not go to war over Ukraine. So, Ukraine is cornered, too. It cannot win the war, and every human life lost at this point is a waste. It would be better for NATO to step aside as Russia installs its puppet regime in Ukraine, then funnel resources into resistance and rebellion, which is what is going to eventually happen anyway.
Meanwhile, the international weapons industries supported by NATO can expand its sales into Moldova, Georgia, Finland, Sweden, etc. After all, the threat of war is almost as profitable as war.
CHRISTOPER COOK, Prague, Czech Republic
Remembering the horror and anguish I felt when that apartment building collapsed in Florida, killing hundreds under falling rubble, I feel avenging anger toward the psychopath commander of Russia’s army as he orders them to blow-up dozens of apartment buildings in Ukraine, every night. President Biden is now leading the world to block Russia’s largest source of income by stopping purchase of Russia’s oil. That raises the price of oil, but I’m willing to pay more for gasoline because it punishes Putin.
We must assure, however, that those higher gasoline prices do not bestow higher profits on gas and oil companies. Those profits must be taxed, and the money must be used to supply Ukraine with all the resources they need to punch-out Putin’s army.
Let’s punish Putin at the pump to punch-out Putin’s army!
BRUCE JOFFE, Piedmont, Calif.
Though I’m not a top-notch prognosticator, I’m willing to bet a ruble that Russia will experience a transformation in the near future.
If history offers a useful guide, the Russian people let you know when they’ve had enough. There is a noticeable shift from despondency and apathy to restlessness and incipient anger. If I were Putin now, I’d be saying whatever is Russian for “uh-oh”.
Sure enough, the signs of a crack-up are showing. Social media posts are showing the vast contrast between the reality in Ukraine and the official line from the Kremlin. Russian soldiers have refused to shoot, or have simply quit. Protests have broken out across Russia, resulting in over 13,000 arrests. News has been heavily censored or shut down. Even the FSB (Russia’s FBI) has been tipping off the Ukrainian government about assassination plots against President Zelensky. Putin, a former spy, must be fuming.
It should be noted that the last time there was a Russian revolution, it was because the rulers drained the treasury on war after war, while the people suffered. That was in 1917.
Putin could end up like the Romanovs, but not before exploding quite a bit of ordnance first. I believe that when Putin is removed from power, it will be by the military, or some combination of military and civilian security agents. Caution is necessary, but I hope NATO isn’t being too delicate; the sooner Putin goes, the more lives we save.
JEFFREY HOBBS, Springfield, Ill.
Will the White refugees from Ukraine be prioritized over the dislocated millions caused by our illegal invasion of Iraq and its subsequent conflagrations that are still flaring throughout the Middle East?
ROBERT McCALLISTER, Lantana, Fla.
From The Progressive Populist, April 15, 2022
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