Lessons for Pa. from Kansas

Kansas voters’ crushing rejection of the amendment that would have removed the right to abortion from the state’s Constitution sends a loud message to Pennsylvania’s GOP legislators. Underhanded tactics likely won’t play well here either, even with many conservatives.

The Kansas amendment was deliberately worded to confuse voters and hide its true purpose: paving the way to a total ban. A proposed bill in the Legislature revealed their intentions, as did leaked audio of their plan to criminalize all abortions — no exceptions.

I joined the Vote No phone bank and spoke with many Kansans young and old, including a man who described himself as “pro-life,” who were angered by the “wickedly deceptive” wording. Even more opposed the government overreach. Republicans deliberately scheduled the vote for primary Election Day, counting on low turnout, especially among Democrats. Well, Democrats, unaffiliated voters and many, many Republicans turned out in droves to vote “no.” The people of Kansas said do not ban abortion.

Last month, the Pennsylvania GOP — as duplicitous as their Kansan cousins — sneaked a late-night “no constitutional right to abortion” amendment into a package of amendments. If it ever comes to a vote, let’s take our lead from Kansas and say “no.”

Michele Feingold

Squirrel Hill

Joe Biden and the Peter Principle

To understand Joe Biden, you must understand the Peter Principle. Laurence J. Peter developed The Peter Principle, which states that a person rises to the level of their incompetence. In a hierarchical management system, a person is promoted due to past success until they reach a level where they can no longer do the job. This is clearly an apt description of Biden and the presidency.

I don’t fault Biden for being old, as age is a relative thing. Some people are old at 60, while others can work into their 80s. Look at President Trump, who tweeted into the wee hours of the morning and the next day looked like he had eight hours of sleep. Biden’s mental acuity is an issue, but it does not explain all his blunders since being in office. I think Biden would be struggling with this job whether he was 58 or 68.

I am not trying to disrespect Biden. His family and Democratic operatives need to persuade him to go peacefully into the sunset after his first term, which will be the best thing for him and the country. It is wrong to insult the office of the presidency, whoever is in office, yet there is a time when we must accept reality.

If we elect someone for president in 2024 based on personality rather than policy, we may reap the whirlwind again.

Ken Barnes

Mechanicsville, Va.

The writer is a Brownsville native.

Gun ownership and freedom

Rights can be considered to be individualistic or society-wide. The Founding Fathers, understanding that individual rights don’t actually lead to freedoms, wrote the Bill of Rights to provide the American society with certain freedoms.

Take the Second Amendment. When people cite it as justification for our lax gun laws, they mention the phrase, “the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” However, they often fail to include the first part of the statement: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State.” In the 1700s, the U.S. did not have an Army or Navy. In fact, our founders were wary of a standing army. They felt that it leads to forever wars. Without a standing army, we needed a citizen’s army, a militia, to protect the free state, hence the Second Amendment.

The U.S. now has the largest standing army in the world. We also have a police force, National Guard and Department of Homeland Security with several branches. We, as a society, have the freedom to lead our lives in peace because of the security provided by these forces. Individual gun ownership would not result in any more freedoms beyond the very narrow freedom to own a gun. And the word militia has been coopted by domestic terrorist organizations to conceal their real agenda to ignore or overthrow the government, and to take away freedoms from citizens they do not consider to be “real” Americans.

Michael Garing

North Huntingdon

Vote out Democrats to save our ‘shining city on a hill’

The Democratic Party has gone from being the middle class, workingman’s party of the moderate presidents, Jack Kennedy and Bill Clinton, to today, the Biden/Pelosi/Schumer left-wing, socialist, Democratic Party. In order to promote their “religion” of global climate control, they are trying to eliminate the American gas and oil industry and, in doing so, they have created double-digit price inflation that so far is costing American working families an average additional $550 a month for their necessary food, gas, utilities and housing expenses.

And on the southern border, in hopes of enticing future Democratic voters, President Biden’s negligence is causing the worst drug smuggling and sex trafficking ever. A record number of Americans are dying from drug overdoses of fentanyl-laced legal and illegal drugs.

Also, a failure to support police funding, and the employment of “progressive” prosecutors, are emboldening crime and shootings in our now unsafe city streets. Autocratic leaders in Russia, China and Iran, noting all these weakness, are actively challenging the freedoms of the USA and other democracies, like Ukraine.

Voting this collection of socialist bureaucrats, lifetime politicians and community organizers out of office would enable conservatives to start balancing the federal budget to lower our debt, reducing our taxes and regulations to stimulate our economy, supporting our police, judges and military, and enforcing our laws, especially on the southern border. And all this could rapidly start to save our “shining city on the hill” before it is too late.

Ron Raymond

Buffalo Township

Have we forgotten about ‘well-regulated’?

Regarding the letter “Cracking open the door on gun control” (Aug. 3, TribLIVE): Second Amendment rights to own a gun include these words well-regulated. We seem to have buried those words.

Harold Maio

Fort Myers, Fla.

Why aren’t unpaid turnpike tolls collected?

Why is the turnpike raising tolls when they have almost $150 million of tolls that are past due (“Pa. Turnpike tolls to go up for 15th straight year,” Aug. 2, TribLIVE)? Sen. Kim Ward and her staff have known about this for several years and haven’t done anything about it.

I have contacted her a number of times on this. The Pennsylvania Senate and House just let the turnpike go on with lame excuses and raise rates on all of us.

Dave Bonazelli

Unity

Addressing housing crisis in Westmoreland

American Rescue Plan Funds are finally being used in Westmoreland County. Commissioners Gina Cerilli Thrasher, Doug Chew and Sean Kertes, thank you for your preliminary work. You now have a moral obligation to spend the remaining $70 million to help those most devastated by the pandemic.

Allocating funds toward blight in our county, at first blush, seems like a positive step. Removing dilapidated structures and opening the doors to private developers, however, does nothing to address blight’s underlying causes, such as poverty, unemployment and depopulation. Simply tearing down buildings ignores the housing insecurity felt by our most vulnerable residents. Where are the real solutions?

A home stabilization fund would invest in underserved communities with high rates of abandoned and foreclosed homes and help households buy or keep a place to live. Educational programs on finance and home maintenance should be offered. Such a fund would aim to rehabilitate blighted homes and residential properties rather than demolish them.

You can no longer deny Westmoreland’s worsening housing crisis. The remaining $70 million provides an unprecedented opportunity to address significant housing and shelter issues. It is time to invest in the residents of Westmoreland County. Every one of us deserves to live a dignified life.

Charmaine R. Strong

Greensburg

The writer is a member of Voice of Westmoreland.

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