To the Editor:
Once again two articles in your paper have caused me to take up the pen and comment. I think my viewpoints are logical and reasonable but I’m always willing to listen to opposing viewpoints that are presented with civility and without threats or intimidation or name-calling.
First: Immigration
I’m in favor of immigration. All four of my grandparents came from Germany in the 1890s. All four became loyal Americans, learned English, followed the rules and became productive citizens and assimilated into the community. My paternal grandfather came in 1890 and became a citizen in 1895.
I have his citizenship papers where he pledged allegiance to the U.S.A. to and rejected all allegiance to the German Emperor.
I’m sure it broke his heart when he had to send his son to fight Germany in 1914 and his grandsons in 1940.
Some people smarter than me have determined how many immigrants our economy can accept each year, I believe it’s about 1,000,000. Our laws specify spell out how immigrants should be handled and everyone except Congress knows they are almost impossible to enforce and should be changed.
Why are they not acting?
When someone organizes caravans carrying hundreds of thousands of “asylum” seekers to our border to overload the facilities it seems like a deliberate effort to embarrass the administration. These are not self-financed, it takes a lot of money to transport that many people that many miles.
It also created another problem. A million or more seasonal workers with work permits come from Mexico each year. They work for a time, then go back and live quite well the rest of the year. A lawn care person told me that the situation at the border made it difficult for his legal workers to get here last year.
Another problem is that we have a lot of poor people in this country who are working at low-paying entry-type jobs and trying to work their way up. These jobs are being taken by illegal immigrants Where else would these people go for employment?
Second: Civility
The Gasconade County Democrat Club (GCDC) listed a set of values which I can hardly disagree with. They are universal values which everyone agrees with. Almost right out of the Bible! I don’t believe either party lives up to them fully. Here are a few other values that are not honored:
Freedom of speech. ANTIFA is the antithesis of this, they try to suppress speech, especially with violence at conservative gatherings. Not at Democrat functions.
We all know conservatives are not welcome on college campuses. If they dare to appear they are met with violent protests. Democrats are welcome with open arms.
Borders. All top Democrats in Washington are critical of the immigration services for enforcing the laws passed by Congress. Why not work to change the laws?
Protect the unborn. All the top Democrats are in favor of abortion any time, any place. I hope some local Democrats oppose it
Tariffs. We buy more from other people than they buy from us. So at the end of the day we send them some of our wealth and they develop their country and maybe buy some of our bonds. Trade should be as equal as possible.
Medical. We are on Medicare and it seems to work fine for us. My only problem is that collectively us old folks did not contribute enough when we were working and our kids and grandkids are subsidizing us with their taxes. They won’t admit it but Democrats are heading for a single payer government program which would be a disaster.
I do not know how the anti-Trump movement will work out but I suspect it will finally die out in the Senate and we will have wasted three years and none of our critical problems have been solved.
