Biden hangs it up, Trump goes to jail, a Supreme Court with ethics & other fantasies | Opinion
Could politics be healthy again?
Consider the following fantasies: Joe Biden converses with Dianne Feinstein, has an epiphany, and decides against seeking re-election. Donald Trump repents, accepts his punishment, and voluntarily leaves politics. The government reliably places the will of the majority ahead of minority interests. The expression “the common good” is resurrected in political discourse. Republicans and Democrats rediscover compromise. Legislators transfer their assets to blind trusts.
The Supreme Court imposes a code of ethics on itself. It practices law instead of politics. Florida burns textbooks that teach slavery benefited the slaves. Young people vote and run for office like older people. Christians are again guided by the Golden Rule and the seven deadly sins.
Businesses and the wealthy pay appropriate taxes as their duty. The rich and poor are treated equitably. Americans routinely fact-check political propaganda. They live within their means and save for retirement. They don’t expect a free ride. They understand the differences between fascism and democracy.
Few of these fantasies can be realized in today’s divided sociopolitical environment. Selfishness, entitlement, greed, civic indifference, corruption, racism, tribalism, lying and shallow reasoning are now rampant in governance, business, religious pursuit and personal behavior. We are pushing the limits of our democracy.
Russ Treat, Richland
Trump’s 4 trials all must proceed
By now, we’ve all heard the news that Donald Trump was indicted for a fourth time, this time on racketeering charges in Georgia for the criminal conspiracy he led to overturn the 2020 election.
The indictments in Georgia and Washington, D.C., made clear that Trump knew he had lost the 2020 presidential election but worked with his cronies on a variety of illegal schemes to change the election’s outcome so he could remain in power.
When his plans to pressure state officials to overturn the will of voters and create fake elector certificates failed to secure him the presidency, Trump and his allies resorted to instigating a violent insurrection to try to keep Trump in power. We must make sure this never happens again in the United States of America.
Accountability is essential to protecting our democracy, our freedom to vote and future elections one is above the law, including former presidents. Trump’s trial must proceed without political interference so that a jury of everyday Americans can do their jobs.
Randall Parks, Pasco
Some libraries too ready
Some library boards are over-zealous and under-informed in pulling books from the shelves.
Recently, the town of Mason, Iowa, trying to comply with a new state law, swept from its libraries a football classic: H.G. “Buzz” Bissinger’s “Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream.”
Sports Illustrated rated the work as the best book on football ever written.
It turns out that the Mason City board used an AI program called ChatGPT, found the word “sex” in the book and assumed a single word must describe an act of explicit sex, which it doesn’t. The author made sure that this book could be read by high-schoolers and said that the book is about football primarily and refers only to some high-schoolers being preoccupied with sex.
I used to admire Iowa for being the seat of Iowa Reading Tests and having a high literacy rate. At least Mason City realized its error and put the football classic back on the shelves. Who knows how AI will be used by people who don’t bother in the first place to read the book they condemn. Who are the robots in this case?
Michael Kiefel, Walla Walla