Senator McConnell proves why we should all be cautious about the monsters we create | Opinion

The monster you create

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell recently announced that he is going to give up the leadership of his party because a large number of his party members have ideas that differ from his.

This is so similar to the story of Frankenstein getting destroyed by his monster.

McConnell was the architect of no negotiations, stand your ground on what you believe — regardless of the facts. But now that members of his party firmly believe in this and he cannot get them to accept facts, he knows it is time to go.

This should be a lesson to all.

Regardless of your status in life, business, religion, or politics, the monster that you create may be the monster that takes you down.

We thank McConnell for his service.

Many of his policies may not have served all Americans well, but he was loyal to his constituents.

James Muldrow, Columbia

Honor Navalny here

Many suspect the death of freedom fighter Aleksei Navalny in an arctic prison yard in Russia was ordered by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Navalny dedicated his life to fighting authoritarianism and corruption, two things that threaten many nations of the world, including the United States.

It would be fitting for towns and cities in the United States to honor Navalny by naming a place or square or street in his name.

This would serve to remind Americans of the Russian threat under Putin and the need to protect our own country from authoritarianism and corruption.

Democracy needs to be promoted and protected throughout the world in these perilous times.

Wayne Northcutt, Ph.D., Mt. Pleasant

Back to normal?

I turned 16 in September of 2020, which means that I was 15 when our country shut down just six months prior in March.

This upcoming September, I will be 20, and it will have been four years since COVID-19 changed the world forever.

In the four years since, I’ve had three jobs, gotten my driver’s license, graduated high school, and started at Midlands Technical College – all post COVID.

I have lived most of my teenage years in a world that is trying to “make it back to normal.”

I work at a local grocery store, and I often hear adults in my checkout line refer to this pre-COVID “normal,” and how strange the world is now, but I must admit, I do not believe that “normal” is a possibility anymore.

Coming from someone who was forced to wear a mask all of my sophomore year, and had to talk to his classmates through panes of plexiglass, I know a thing or two about the world being strange.

But, despite the strangeness, I struggle to believe that what is best for our state, or country, is reforming the way things were before COVID-19.

If COVID-19 did change anything, it only changed things by worsening the symptoms that already plagued our people.

We all seem to speed through life, towards some idealistic future. To truly reach a “normal,” we need to learn to slow down and be comfortable with the uncertainty of change.

Coming from a COVID-aged-teenager, it’s scary, I know.

Josiah Ingle, Lexington

Don’t count Haley out

Yes, Trump won the S.C. Republican primary; however, a primary is not the election.

Haley was elected governor twice — those were elections where she got widespread support from all the citizens of South Carolina.

The nation will have an election in November.

Haley’s appeal will bring together voters from all walks of life who share her vision of a better tomorrow for all.

Don’t count Haley out.

Jeffrey W. Baldwin, Columbia