Letters to the Editor | May 3, 2024

I am strongly against congressional Democrats saving House Speaker Mike Johnson — one of the architects of the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection — from Marjorie Taylor Greene’s motion to vacate. True, saving his speakership will keep Congress from going into crisis right now. But that will send our country into a worse crisis later, hidden from voters as they go to the polls in November. We cannot pretend that elected Democrats can save us if Donald Trump wins. The Republicans are prepared to immediately institute Project 2025, a Heritage Foundation-backed plan to reshape the federal government in service to the MAGA agenda.

The plan will allow Trump to march into office with an army of allied conservatives ready to disassemble our current institutions. The plan leaves Democrats, and the few remaining pro-democracy Republicans, powerless against the new authoritarian government. On an immediate level, we could possibly have Hakeem Jeffries as speaker. On a long-term level, saving Johnson to put off chaos now is a recipe for autocracy winning in November. Voters will believe that a victorious Trump can somehow be neutralized by Congress acting as a check and balance. That will not happen — and Johnson will be leading the way to autocracy, sitting on the shoulders of compliant Democrats supporting him in the spring of 2024.

Lynn Strauss, West Chester

The letter to the editor by the executive director of the Greater Philadelphia Chapter Zionist Organization of America is another screed on how Jews are continually wronged. He fails to delineate that being anti-Zionist (or anti-Israel) does not constitute antisemitism. While he recounts the horrors of the Oct. 7 attack on Israeli civilians and the taking of hostages, he fails to mention the 34,000-plus deaths of Palestinians (mostly women and children) and the countless injured.

Nor does he mention the complete destruction of Gaza’s infrastructure, which has displaced more than a million Palestinians, and the famine and disease that the Israeli government has inflicted by its limitations on humanitarian aid. He also ignores the historical treatment of Palestinians (which Nobel Peace Prize winner Jimmy Carter has described as apartheid) and the continuing/continual illegal settlements on the West Bank and violence against Palestinians there. While the American protests must not promote antisemitism, hatred, or threaten Jews, it is completely understandable why the protests decry the plight of Palestinians. Yes, context does matter, but only when it is objective and balanced.

Taylor McCormick, Drexel Hill

The dilemma facing American universities is a wider issue than free speech: It goes to the core of the academic mission. Are students being adequately educated to live and work in a world where all of them — conservatives included — are likely to face barriers and discrimination related to religion, race, ethnicity, and political views?

The University of Houston, located in one of America’s most diverse cities, is among those institutions leading the exploration of this topic. The faculty lists cultural competency among the established learning outcomes. Cultural competency, unlike the diversity movement, seeks to provide skill sets that enable us to thrive when diversity results in the inevitable: messy conflicts. When we advocate for cultural competence, we encourage others to state their views using language that opens the minds of their adversaries. The University of Pennsylvania modeled this strategy recently by holding an all-campus listening session, where contradictory views could be expressed in private without the media. That’s a good start. Listening to those who feel they are unheard is a great way to reset dialogues. If higher education seeks a long-term solution rather than a short-term strategy, it must go beyond the current turmoil.

If universities want their graduates to live in a more secure world — where hate and threats are more skillfully managed — they are the first line of defense. They must make cultural competency a mandatory learning outcome. The protests are their call to action. Only then will we have American leaders capable of helping our nation live up to its promise of justice and liberty for all, and vibrant, diverse campuses where everyone belongs.

Linda S. Wallace, Philadelphia, culturaliq@gmail.com. The writer is a former real estate editor and reporter at The Inquirer.

In a recent op-ed, Lisa Badum, a member of Germany’s parliament, writes that the U.S. doesn’t need more liquefied natural gas export terminals because Europe is reducing its use of natural gas. Consumption of natural gas in Europe dropped in 2023 due to high prices that squeezed consumers to use less and caused some industries to switch to burning oil. Germany still relies on fossil fuels for over three-quarters of its energy needs and its reliance on natural gas is likely to grow as it shutters nuclear and coal-fired power plants.

Badum claims that renewable energy is much cheaper than fossil fuels. Then why does Germany subsidize renewable energy? And why are Germany’s residential electric rates more than double those in Pennsylvania? The bottom line for Badum is that “getting with the times” means relying almost exclusively on renewable energy. This ignores warnings from U.S. electric grid experts that we continue to need nuclear and fossil fuel sources that are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions must also preserve energy affordability and reliability.

Terrance J. Fitzpatrick, president and CEO, Energy Association of Pa., Harrisburg

One of the solutions to the Philadelphia Fire Department’s shortage of hundreds of paramedics, as detailed in a recent Inquirer article, is taxpayer-funded paramedic education. Today, applicants must already possess a paramedic card, and obtaining this type of education takes time and money that potential providers many times do not have access to. The city should take its cue from Delaware’s New Castle County and provide advanced life-support level education to recruits. The city can either develop its own in-house program or send recruits to an existing one. The city’s academy to become a firefighter takes nine months and the paramedic program I went through took only 10 months. Until Philadelphia gets serious about training their own paramedics, the city will continue to be plagued by understaffing. The taxpayers will continue to pay the price through overtime and provider attrition to equal paying and lower call volume jobs in the surrounding counties.

Owen Sahnow, Philadelphia

Despite the departure of two provider agencies that handled child welfare casework for half of the city, all is not lost. Court-Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) Philadelphia, our small — but mighty — nonprofit has remained a constant source of support and advocacy through the transition to new community umbrella agency providers. Our mission is simple: to train and support community volunteers to advance the welfare of children in foster care through effective advocacy. The Dependency Court judges, who retain the discretion to appoint special advocates to cases, rely on these dedicated volunteers to help them make informed decisions in some of the city’s most complicated dependency cases. It can be easy to forget that within this enormously complicated bureaucracy, there are actual children and families who are in crisis. The special advocate assigned to each case is committed to advancing the best outcome for each child.

Our group has served the city since 2006 and, every year, judicial requests for volunteers far exceed what the organization can provide. We have grown to serve approximately 300 children annually and have more than 100 active volunteers, many of whom continue to serve well beyond their two-year service commitment. These volunteers come from diverse backgrounds and are trained on topics related to the child welfare system including child abuse and special education laws. Our volunteers are paired with a staff supervisor trained in social work, who supports volunteers during their tenure. These teams are often the glue that holds all the players together.

While Philadelphia is down two community umbrella agencies, CASA Philadelphia stands ready to speak up for the most vulnerable children and families in the child welfare system. Investing in nonprofits like ours not only keeps vital organizations like this alive and strong, but also benefits the children and families who need it most.

Noreena Sondhi Lewis, president of the board of directors, CASA Philadelphia

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