EVs are environmentally friendly like a Big Mac is diet friendly | Letters to the Editor

Instead of 'going high when they go low,' Biden needs to punch down

Former First Lady Michelle Obama famously said, "When they go low, we go high,” referring to former President Donald Trump’s bullying tactics toward Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential campaign. The catchphrase was a message for Democrats to behave differently than someone who treats others with disdain. Unfortunately, adhering to that maxim in the era of Trump is a recipe for political suicide.

To the MAGA minions, including many Republicans in the U.S. Congress, civil discourse is a thing of the past.

Despite an economy with 15 million new jobs and unemployment rates at record low levels, the electorate, particularly in crucial swing states, seems unimpressed with Biden’s accomplishments. A record of consequential legislation has done little to offset this lack of enthusiasm.

Can it be that going low is paying dividends? Trump is winning the messaging game. The time has come for the Biden camp to launch an overwhelming counteroffensive, replete with a highlight reel of Trump’s personal and professional failings, or risk losing in November.

Jane Larkin

Tampa, Florida

Young people: Life under Trump will be dark and chaotic

We can be extremely upset at President Joe Biden's administration for their policy with regard to Israel and Gaza, but the difficulty is that in the real world, you've got to consider the quality of your life.

Americans are closer to death under right-wing state abortion bans. These dangerous laws are putting women’s health and lives at risk and threatening doctors with jail time.

Republicans’ out-of-touch agenda is doubling down on their assault on fundamental freedoms by proposing ever-more far-right bans in states, like tracking women who are pregnant, eliminating the abortion pill and contraception.

In addition, our children have a right to acquire an education in an environment where gun violence is not a constant threat. Gun violence is the leading killer of our children, it must be stopped. Are we so weak, so spineless that we are afraid to hold Republicans accountable?

Let's vote to save our democracy from dictatorship.

Richard French

Pasadena, California

EVs are environmentally friendly like a Big Mac is diet friendly

I’ll bet that if company called a cigarette that has less tar and nicotine "lung friendly" there would be huge uproar. It would be more than misleading, it would be a lie. Yet we give the term environmentally friendly a pass, and what’s worse, we buy or use more of what they are selling, giving ourselves a warm and fuzzy feeling that we are being so nice to the planet. It’s a lie.

Calling an electric vehicle "zero-emissions" is true, as long as the battery never gets charged (the emissions from an electric vehicle happen at the power plant). Using the same logic, a gasoline-powered vehicle is zero-emissions, as long as the car is parked with the engine off.

A Big Mac with extra cheese and mayo could be called zero-calorie or waistline friendly, as long as you don’t eat it. If we are causing harm to the environment, we may as well admit it, not fool ourselves that we are being environmentally friendly.

If we wake up to the lie about something pitched as environmentally friendly, when it is actually reduced harm, maybe we would use less or none of it. At the very least, we would not fool ourselves into thinking we are being good to environment.

Charles Barker

Plymouth

We need more farms. Put solar panels on roofs

If DTE Energy Co. and Consumers Energy want to use solar power, put them on roofs. Farmland is being used up by them. We need more farms, not less.

Gretchen Garry

Williamston, Michigan

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: EVs are environmentally friendly like a Big Mac is diet friendly