Letters to the Editor | Feb. 21, 2023

The Union League of Philadelphia describes itself “as a patriotic society to support the Union and the policies of President Abraham Lincoln.” Last month, the group gave its gold medal to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis — a move that flies in the face of one of Lincoln’s most important legacies. In April 1863, just six months after the league was formed, Lincoln issued a code of military conduct for the Union armies, which states: “Military necessity does not admit of cruelty, that is, the infliction of suffering for the sake of suffering or for revenge, nor of maiming or wounding except in fight, nor of torture to extort confessions.”

Last September, DeSantis grotesquely mocked this principle by sending two planeloads of Venezuelan migrants to Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts, dropping them off without making any provision for their care. There was no “necessity,” military or otherwise. It was a stunt, trying to embarrass Democrats by dumping migrants into a blue state. Fortunately, local nonprofit groups and the federal government took care of them. These stunts dehumanize real men, women, and children by treating them as a nuisance to be gotten rid of. As pawns in a perverse joke on more welcoming places. As wretched refuse, not to be welcomed, but exploited for political gain. As part of a process of lies, misinformation, and cultivation of hate. We can and should debate short- and long-term immigration policy. But condemning gratuitous cruelty requires no debate, only an immediate and continuing censure by government officials, media, religions, and all who treasure decency.

Peter Janovsky, New York City

After seeing horrible pictures of members of Congress wearing pins in the shape of an AR-15 semiautomatic rifle on their lapels, I call on all reasonable members of Congress to wear pins with pictures of children on their own lapels. Most especially, pictures of those beautiful children whose lives were taken by assault weapons. Which is more important? Then we need to get to work ridding our government of those gun fanatics.

Judy Hughes, Blue Bell, hughe8309@comcast.net

Ezekiel Emanuel’s op-ed on Benjamin Franklin is not only a fitting tribute to a national treasure but also an antidote to our current malaise. Where deviations from liberal and conservative orthodoxy create party pariahs (see Joe Manchin and Liz Cheney), Franklin craved open discussion and careful listening. Where pundits luxuriate in never changing their minds — or their tribes — Franklin could tell the Constitutional Convention in 1787, “the older I grow, the more apt I am to doubt my own judgment, and to pay more respect to the judgment of others.”

And how many politicians of either party keep a moral diary, as Franklin faithfully did? Safe to say that George Santos would not be alone among his Capitol brethren in missing that mark.

Bob Martin, Havertown, Inkwire86@verizon.net

Join the conversation: Send letters to letters@inquirer.com. Limit length to 150 words and include home address and day and evening phone number. Letters run in The Inquirer six days a week on the editorial pages and online.