Sounding off: GOP has changed

The letter “History lesson on Republicans vs. Democrats” motivated me to do my own research on the topics discussed. Yes, Abraham Lincoln was a Republican, but my, how the GOP has changed!

Although I believe that Eisenhower was a productive and respectable president, he did not “integrate the military.” Harry Truman, in 1948, signed Executive Order 9981, which ended racial segregation in the U.S. armed forces. Ike, however, did oversee the building of our interstate highway system by taxing income over $1 million at the rate of 90%, an idea that would be anathema to the current crop of Republican lawmakers.

We could continue to outline the histories, differences and failings of each of the major parties. But let’s focus on what’s taking place right now. While polls consistently show that addressing climate change and affordable health care are high on the list of the public’s concerns, lawyers for the president are currently arguing in court to get rid of the preexisting conditions clause of the Affordable Care Act, and the president keeps his “beautiful” health care plan a secret.

The earth continues to grow hotter, wildfires blaze and hurricanes wreak havoc, but the president routinely signs away environmental protections and denies that climate change is even happening. I want my children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren to not just survive but to also have clean air and water. Without these essentials, everything else is merely a moot point.

You can draw your own conclusions about how I’ll vote on Nov. 3.

Karen Stewart, Hempfield

Mail-in voting? No thanks.

My grandparents came across the North Atlantic to vote. They lost their first child after two weeks in a lifeboat and then raised six other children. John Derda, my grandpap, worked in the coal mines in Herminie. No thanks. I’ll walk to the polls for them. Then thank everybody working there even if they don’t vote the same way I do.

Walt Peterson, Squirrel Hill

Is presidential history repeating itself?

I have a question.

During this pandemic, I have rediscovered reading. I read two books about the president.

The first discussed his views about Cabinet members being disloyal, and stated that his administration is in constant conflict and disarray. The second reiterated that conflict scenario, and indicated that the president fosters disarray among his own people.

Other comments were that he is a schemer and manipulater; he supplies and withholds information as he sees fit; when he feels politically vulnerable, he moves quickly, even before his staff and Cabinet members are informed of an issue; he said his enemies were “unanimous in their hate for me — and I welcome their hatred”; he is an anti-Semite and an adulterer.

After listening to 3½ years of similar comments about President Trump from various media outlets and others, here is my question: Is history repeating itself?

You see, the first book, “Managing the White House,” was published in 1974, and the second book, “1944,” was published in 2015, so none of those comments were about Republican Donald Trump. They were about a man considered to be a very successful president, Democrat Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

So I ask the question: Is history repeating itself?

Daniel McCue, Donegal

Don’t erase Columbus

In regard to the unanimous vote to remove Pittsburgh artist Frank Vittor’s Christopher Columbus statue (“Pittsburgh Art Commission recommends removal of Columbus statue from Schenley Park”): Pittsburgh Art Commission member Kilolo Luckett stated, “Christopher Columbus doesn’t uphold the values of the Constitution and human beings.” I did not realize that Luckett was the final arbiter of universal human values. She has not magically solved the riddle of universally defining normative ethics that philosophers have wrestled with since Aristotle and Plato.

Kirk Savage, a professor of history of art and architecture at the University of Pittsburgh, testified at an earlier hearing in support of removing the Columbus statue on the basis that the statue represents colonization, enslavement, looting and other cruelties (“Schenley Park’s Columbus statue ‘erases history,’ Pitt professor says”). The City of Pittsburgh is not a supporter of colonization, enslavement, looting and other cruelties by maintaining the statue. Columbus is a part of world history, and the Schenley Park statue is part of Pittsburgh history. This history should not be erased.

The Taliban tried to erase history in 2001 when they demolished the Buddha statues of Bamyan, ancient pre- Islamic figures. We should not emulate the Taliban. The wiser and more enlightened course, if one wants to exhibit sympathy for those who may be offended, would be to erect a plaque placing Columbus in historical context. But please do not erase him.

Gregg Rosen, Squirrel Hill

Why I’m voting straight Republican

I consider myself an independent voter, meaning I look at the individual’s positions on issues, regardless of party, then make an informed decision. But this year has opened my eyes to what each party truly stands for.

I don’t think the Democratic Party has shown any sympathy for parents who have had to rearrange their lives to homeschool their children, to small business owners who have been devastated by the shutdown or for police officers who have been senselessly attacked across this country. Joe Biden has said if he’s elected that he’d shut the whole country down if scientists said it was needed to stop the spread of covid-19.

Businesses that people worked their entire lives for are being closed for good. Some of our cities are becoming unsafe war zones, I think, because Democratic mayors don’t have the spines to stand up to their own political constituencies.

I’m voting straight Republican — Donald Trump for president, Guy Reschenthaler for U.S. House, Kim Ward for state Senate and Mike Reese for state House — because I believe they are the only group of people who have bothered to support working families during this pandemic. The Democratic Party has become the party of school closures, business lockdowns and defunding the police, and that’s why I’m voting straight Republican, in person, Nov. 3.

Jamison Poklembo, Mt. Pleasant Township

Save lives by wearing a mask

Long after the world recognized how to defeat the spread of covid-19, the American deniers continue maskless events to propagate up to 1,000 new daily deaths. And now preexisting conditions don’t count? Comorbidity, or having a preexisting health issue, was not a conscious choice for most of the 211,000-plus American covid-19 deaths, nor for their surviving families. The weekly current covid-19 American death rate of 1,000 per day is six times the European death rate. Why?

Modern medicine prevents early death from many preexisting health issues, but covid-19 overwhelms too many people, including the young. Whole country societies have proven that universal mask-wearing stops the virus spread, and leads to open economies in much of the world.

Why can’t Americans follow the known and demonstrated lifesaving mask-wearing? Our leaders have repeatedly violated company and regional rules by not wearing masks and not showing their supporters how to save lives during the pandemic. Do deaths among Trump and Republican event attendees not count?

Save yours and others’ lives by disciplined mask-wearing everywhere, social distancing, sanitizing and avoiding crowded events. Walk away to continue life. And vote on Nov. 3 for yourself and for those unnecessarily lost to this tragedy.

Walter Cebulak, Murrysville

Legalized marijuana will ruin lives

Gov. Tom Wolf and Lt. Gov. John Fetterman have renewed their call to legalize adult use of marijuana (“Gov. Wolf renews call for legal recreational marijuana”). Seriously, Gov. Wolf, you call it adult to use marijuana? Yes, just like adult use of alcohol, adult movies, adult bars or adult books — all of which will destroy many adult lives.

What do we become when we are adults? I guess we become complete idiots. We do adult things and in many cases, we destroy not only our lives but our families’ lives and also many of our friends’ and neighbors’ lives.

Gov. Wolf, you’re saying that “doing drugs” will help Pennsylvania’s economic recovery, Pennsylvania families and our criminal justice system to be fairer. If we quit arresting murderers, rapists, robbers, domestic violence perpetrators and maybe anyone breaking the laws, the justice system would be fairer for all criminals. You and Lt. Gov. Fetterman seem to be anti-law officials.

Your veto of anti-abortion bills resulted in the deaths of future Pennsylvania citizens. Do you want to kill more citizens by legalizing marijuana?

These are strong words, but they are truthful. Alcohol, drugs and abortion ruin lives and kill many. You don’t change good, lifesaving laws to aid criminals. Instead of filling Pennsylvania “coffers” with greedy money, you will be filling Pennsylvania “coffins” with dead citizens. I guess that won’t matter, because you will get your millions of dollars.

Joseph Tubbs, Curwensville