Letters to the Editor
Climate Crisis
Dear Editor,
One challenge facing voters this election season is information overload. Too many issues, too little time. To help out, let me boil it all down on one issue: the climate crisis. In case you hadn’t heard, the Biden-Harris Administration and congressional Democrats like Sen. Tammy Baldwin enacted the biggest set of climate actions ever taken.
The climate package was part of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, and it’ll save the average household almost a thousand dollars a year on your energy bill. For hundreds of thousands of Americans, it also means good paying clean energy jobs. But the real payoff is for our environment and the kind of planet we leave our kids and grand kids. With all the household and industry subsidies to shift to clean energy, the total impact will be to reduce America’s greenhouse gas emissions by 40% from peak levels and fulfill our Paris Agreement commitments. This is a bigger reduction than any nation has ever made.
Another important point: Vice President Harris and Senator Baldwin accomplished this against the total resistance of Republicans—who seem more concerned with corporate profits than the health of our planet and grand kids. If we don’t elect Democrats in November, the Republicans could undo all of this progress. In nutshell, the GOP climate plan for the planet is very simple: Let It Burn.
David Shorr
Madison
MAGA Republican Senate candidate Eric Hovde claims that Tammy Baldwin has done nothing good for Wisconsin during her 20+ years in Washington. Yet if he’d spent more time here instead of garnering consecutive “most influential individual” honors from the Orange County (CA) Business Journal, he might know about the dozens of awards for excellent work that Baldwin earned from groups ranging from the US Chamber of Commerce, Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation, and International Dairy Foods Association to the American Public Health Association, Disabled American Veterans, Coalition on Adult Basic Education, First Focus Campaign for Children, Bipartisan Policy Center, and Climate Action Campaign.
Perhaps he’d know that she secured billions of dollars for worthy projects like replacing Superior’s Blatnik Bridge, two new tribal clean energy projects, and the Urban League’s Black Business Hub, the new Centro Hispano headquarters, and the Center for Black Excellence and Culture here in Madison. Maybe he’d know that Baldwin authored the Obamacare provision that allows your kids to stay on your health insurance policy until age 26.
It matters who wins this Senate seat. Had a Republican held it, there would’ve been no tie for VP Harris to break to adopt America’s biggest commitment to climate action (Inflation Reduction Act) or pass the American Rescue Plan Act that kept legions of small businesses and families afloat during the pandemic. Nor could John McCain have cast the vote in 2017 to killed the GOP bill that would’ve ended Obamacare.
For our future, we must re-elect Tammy Baldwin!
Trump’s Economic Prowess?
Dear Editor,
Donald Trump boasts of creating the greatest economy in America’s history. Yes, the economy was strong during his first three years as president, but doesn’t credit belong more to the strong economy Trump inherited from President Obama than his actions in office?
Remember that, after rescuing us from Bush’s financial crisis, Obama’s first term saw a stunning economic recovery that continued for a decade, with steady employment and wage growth, and inflation that never exceeded the Fed’s 2.0 percent goal. When Trump took office, inflation was a mere 1.3 percent, a rate he didn’t beat until his mismanagement of the COVID pandemic crashed the economy, and his best year of job growth didn’t beat any of Obama’s last three years.
Trump credits his tariffs, trade policies, and massive tax cuts for corporations and the rich for the robust economy of 2017-2019. Yet, among their failures, his tariffs contributed to the 2019 manufacturing recession, while his trade war with China inflicted great harm on the economy, and his tax cuts did little to benefit American workers.
Trump may have been adjacent to a strong economy but, as with many of his claims of success, he didn’t earn it so much as inherit it.
Howard Landsman
Madison
What’s in a Name?
Dear Editor,
Trump’s name resembles the French verb “tromper”, “to deceive”. This felon/presidential contender certainly lives up (or down) to this definition. He has recently tricked many who consider themselves good Republicans into accepting him as their hero, and (gulp!?) religious leader. Back when he first attracted them to his cute spiel as the “You’re fired” TV businessman, he was actually a Democrat. Even before then, he was changing party affiliation too often to keep track. He then decided that being a Republican seemed more beneficial to his rich pals who would help him subvert our economy, making them all richer, while neglecting the rest of us.
But his businesses have been shrinking recently, just like “X” which has lost 72 percewnt of its value since Trump’s new pal Elon Musk took it over. Trump’s age affects his focus, with mental ineptitude evidenced in his rambling speeches where he can’t keep his mind on one topic, even within a single sentence.
Let’s face it: he only wants the job to avoid his inevitable incarceration, and to pardon not only himself, but the January 6 terrorists. He has no love or respect for any of us, especially women, or for the institutions of America, beyond how they benefit his ego and wealth.
Instead of this felon, let’s elect a true patriot, Kamala Harris, who has 34 years of professional experience representing us, the people. Follow the many seasoned Republicans like both Liz Chaney and her father Dick, who intend voting for her!
Kay Ziegahn
Richland Center
What to Expect from a Trump Second Term
Dear Editor,
The Republican Convention in Milwaukee was unbelievable, maybe not in the way Trump expected, but his simpering, boring acceptance speech of 90 minutes duration either put his audience to sleep, or they turned it off, way before he was done. He has repeatedly proffered tax cuts, but he neglects to say those will only be for the already rich folks who don’t need them. His tariffs against China during his presidential term only increased both inflation and the federal debt here, and now he blames Biden for it, even when the Democrats’ economy has improved enormously over what Trump had left us with.
Trump’s inane suggestion of using bleach as a treatment for COVID should have proved his unsuitability as president. Republicans at every level, as evidenced in Wisconsin by what they’ve done to the UW college system, try to strangle educational opportunities because they don’t want an educated electorate. Similarly, they don’t think women deserve access to abortion, even when the woman’s death would be the only alternative! Maybe they won't be satisfied until they outlaw condoms too?
Will Trump’s Hitler/Putin-worshiping-Project 2025 include Detention Camps, (German: Konzentrationslager), for all his perceived enemies, and not just for illegal immigrants?
Kay Ziegahn
Richland Center WI