.Letters to the Editor: June 21, 2017

'A desert with a small patch of green'

Concrete Park

As I drove a friend of mine, who once lived here years ago with her parents, past Old Courthouse Square, she said all she sees is a desert with a small patch of green. There is no creativity to this park. There are no curves, no place to plant flowers to beautify it and no restrooms. Just a freaking square of cement with trees and some green lawn.

All my friend could say was how ugly the park is and wondered who pocketed the money to build this eyesore. It makes one think. Luther Burbank is probably turning in his grave.

Santa Rosa

Gun Logic

There is no gun/knife/club violence. There is only human violence. Because there is human violence, self-defense is a natural, basic right. The Second Amendment recognizes that right. Gun shops allow for the procurement of that right, and the state shall not interfere in that right. Gun-free zones interfere with that right and allow good people to be killed with impunity.

There are no bad guns, only bad People. Because there are bad people, good people need the physical means to protect themselves: guns save lives.

The main cause of human violence is a lack of intellectual and moral integrity, not a physical object like a gun/knife/club. When there is no intellectual integrity, only gross physicality rules. The solution is to recognize and promote intellectual and moral integrity, as opposed to moral relativity. When people lack the means to self-defense (guns/knives/clubs), they are ruled by violence from criminals and the state. Exercise your rights!

Petaluma

Faux News

Mainstream media has primarily reflected the reality of upper middle class life and served the propaganda needs of the dominant political parties for a long time. It has ignored the day-to-day reality of coal miners, steel workers, assembly line workers, waitresses and retail clerks. The disconnect has finally reached crisis proportions politically.

Government statistics claim a strong jobs recovery, a booming stock market, increasing productivity and record corporate profits, as if this reflected the experience of the working and lower middle classes, those who earn less than a living wage, those without affordable health insurance, those with food insecurity, those without access to higher education or affordable housing.

This “underclass” of voters resonates with a “populist” politician who asserts that the mainstream media is “fake news,” even if it seems apparent to others that this is for his own political self interest. Many of these voters will admit Mr. Trump’s shortcomings, but minimize them because their goal is to be included in the American dream.

Until the mainstream media and politicians do their job and start reflecting the frustration of those who are not benefiting from the current surging stock market, millions of disenfranchised voters will continue to regard mainstream corporate news as “fake news,” and the traditional leaders of both parties as advocating primarily for the economic elite, and they will be right.

Sonoma

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