Letters to the Editor: Republicans need to give us a reason to support them

Holland Sentinel
·4 min read

Republicans need to give us a reason to support them

On Tuesday, March 26, Mr. Michael John DeWaard challenged those who have written letters cautioning against the Republican candidate for the November election, and to come up with a plan to fix one of two problems he listed in his letter. I accept that challenge.

In case you forgot, here is DeWaard's list:

  • Border crisis

  • Violent crimes (I’ve included crime rates)

  • Fentanyl deaths

  • Global unrest

  • Funding Ukraine and Israel

  • Enriching Iran

  • Divided country

  • High interest rates

  • Inflation

  • Out of control spending/national debt

  • Credit card debt

Let me start by saying, this is what I know:

Border crisis: There is a bipartisan bill in Congress to address the border crisis, but it appears many Republican representatives refuse to vote on it. Funding for Ukraine and Israel are also on the table, but again, the bill seems to be stalled in Congress by Republicans.

Credit card debt: Our current administration was able to lower late fees by over 50%; that may not seem like a big deal, but it is a step.

As for the other items on the list, here are some of my ideas:

Global unrest: Maybe if we passed the above bills, that might be a good step?

Enriching Iran: well, America hasn't had diplomatic relations with this country since 1980, so I don't feel I'm qualified to make a suggestion regarding this issue. Maybe if I studied it for a few years.

Fentanyl deaths, violent crimes and divided country: Additional funding/support for (community) mental health and addiction services might help, but wait, we can’t even agree to that here in Ottawa County let alone on a national scale.

High interest rates/inflation: I see that more as corporate greed, but gee, how do you regulate that?

Out-of-control government spending: I just read that Betsy DeVos, a Republican, received a grant of $2 million to expand Amway. So, maybe that could have been cut from the government’s budget? I don’t know.

I do know, that, as an independent, who has voted Republican in the past, I will not be voting Republican for quite a while. Not until they have something worth voting for.

Maureen Bilsky

Holland

Are we really better off with Biden?

Thank you very much for publishing Michael John DeWaard's letter regarding the Democrats' plan of action. I agree with John when he writes that "Trump certainly has his faults," but him saying things that "hurt my feelings" is something I'm able to get over at age 60.

I would like to add a few more problems for the anti-Republican Sentinel writers to come up with a plan of action for:

  • Child sex trafficking

  • Gas prices

  • Mortgage rates: 2021 = 2.96%; now = 7.99%

The best question I can ask to all of the "regular" anti-Republican Sentinel writers is: "Do you really have it better now than you did four years ago?"

Todd Wehrmeyer

Holland

Don't just whine about problems

Dear Mr De Waard,

I write in response to your challenge to offer a plan of action to your recent letter to the editor listing 12 bulleted problems facing our country. I am not one of the recent anti-Republican authors, however, I can not resist such an interesting challenge.

First, let me begin by noting that I found no solutions or plans of action to the problems enumerated by you in your letter. Not unexpected, as I have not found any solutions or plans of action in the non-existent Republican platform; just a constant whine about problems.

So let's get started:

  • Border crisis: This has been a well-documented conundrum for decades, the solution to which has been generally acknowledged to belong to Congress. Mass deportation is not a solution, but a problem in and of itself. The proposed bipartisan solution passed overwhelmingly by the Senate was scuttled in the frozen-in-MAGA-world mess of the House.

  • Violent crime: Again, too easy. NBC News reported available data from Philadelphia, Chicago, Denver and New York, recipient cities of large numbers of recent bussed migrants, show that overall year-over-year crime is down. Justice Department data has shown violent crime and felony arrests to be considerably lower among undocumented immigrants.

I could go on, but I don't feel that it would be fruitful. I'm afraid it's like I'm talking to a wall. Your bullet points read like the stilted, biased talking points of the MAGA theocracy. For a succinct plan go to President Biden's State of the Union address. It offers a humanitarian plan for all your bullet points.

I do like your last quote from Dr. McGraw, though. Maybe we do have some common ground.

Fred Derheimer

Holland

This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Letters to the Editor: Republicans need to give us a reason to support them