Letters to the Editor | Jan. 9, 2023

Two items in the Jan. 5 edition of The Inquirer bode well for the long-term future of our democracy. The first is the regional news article “New Jersey becomes first state to require instruction in media literacy in grades K-12.” The other is the op-ed calling for a renewal of civic education in connection with our country’s 250th anniversary. I am convinced that both of these initiatives can be done in a nonpartisan way. Both sides of our political and cultural divide are harmed when extreme factions become detached from objective reality and lack knowledge of or choose to ignore long-established norms of civic engagement. A well-informed citizenry supported by credible news sources is better equipped to resist demonizing the opposition. That, in turn, fosters a willingness to make the compromises required for democracy to survive in our vast multicultural pluralistic society. I plan to support both initiatives.

Alan Windle, Philadelphia, awindle94@yahoo.com

The Dry Tortugas National Park in Florida was closed due to an influx of Cuban immigrants. As we try to make sense of the immigration issue in a highly charged and partisan atmosphere, the problems that drive folks to flee their homelands should be considered. While little can be done to curb the violence and corruption in places such as Guatemala, Honduras, and Haiti, the same can’t be said about Cuba. U.S. sanctions, imposed over 60 years ago, were tightened by former President Donald Trump, and President Joe Biden continues to look the other way. Conditions have worsened of late on the island, with power outages, food shortages, and other economic perils. People are taking to the streets in protest. These sanctions are driving people to flee to our shores. The Castros are long gone. It is time to reexamine these sanctions.

Angus Love, Narberth, anguslove76@gmail.com

The outrageous decision to allow fracking to resume in Dimock, Pa., is an insult to the families who have suffered for years thanks to negligent corporate polluters and timid regulatory agencies. Gov. Tom Wolf’s Department of Environmental Protection cut this deal on the very same day that fracking giant Coterra Energy was in court to plead no contest for contaminating water systems in the town. The residents who lost clean water are still years away from the permanent solution they should have received years ago. No one knows better than Gov.-elect Josh Shapiro that the drilling industry is a threat to all Pennsylvanians. He should do right by the people of Dimock and reinstate the moratorium on his first day as governor.

Ginny Marcille-Kerslake, Food & Water Watch, Exton, gmarcillekerslake@fwwatch.org

Has anyone considered repurposing the Roundhouse site for the Sixers? It already has great road access, parking, and a subway station. The current proposal will gridlock Center City and further destroy Chinatown.

David Mermelstein, Elkins Park

. . .

My idea for the Roundhouse is to tear the building down, remove as much soil as possible and plant as many trees as possible. Fence in the site with a high black iron fence to protect the trees and prevent vandalism. Have the site have a sprinkler system in case there is a summer drought and put up plaques along the perimeter giving information about how all the trees are helping the environment. Also, there could be other plaques inside the fence from Native American sayings on the environment, such as: “The Earth does not belong to man; man belongs to the Earth” — Chief Seattle. We would need a landscape architect to design the site, and I am sure we could raise private funds. It could be known as Philadelphia’s little forest.

John McGlade, Wayne

In his pitiful quest to become speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy has already given away much of the speaker’s standing and prerogatives. The demands of the obdurate few he was trying to win over are geared to imposing minority rule (theirs) and to obstructing majority legislation they don’t like. By promising that any one of them can move to depose him, he opened the door to repeated interruptions of House business and the derailment of potentially productive deliberations. By guaranteeing them a seat on the Rules Committee, he gave them a say in what measures will be brought to the House floor. This tactic is very familiar to us in Pennsylvania, where the state GOP routinely traps reams of worthy legislative proposals in committee. It is no accident that Rep. Scott Perry is a ringleader in this cabal.

Dale Kinney, Bala Cynwyd

Watching the election for speaker of the House, one could not help but notice the difference in Republican vs. Democratic nominating speeches. Rep. Elise Stefanik, chair of the House Republican Conference, droned on about high inflation (which was caused by COVID-19 and supply-chain issues), border control issues (which have been ongoing for at least 20 years), and high taxes (only for corporations and high earners). Meanwhile, Rep. Pete Aguilar, the House Democratic Caucus chair, talked about Democratic unity. Not a word about how they are protecting a woman’s right to bodily autonomy, moving manufacturing back to this country, building roads, bridges, and internet infrastructure, and otherwise working for policies that improve the lives of everyday Americans. The electorate has a short attention span. If the Democrats don’t refute Republican lies, the Republicans will take control of the Senate and the presidency again, all due to easily remedied Democratic errors.

Maggie Mund, Philadelphia

The mockery that has been made of the process of naming a speaker of the House is just the latest example, in a long list, of how little Republican lawmakers care about the Constitution and governing in the interest of the country. The fact that a mere 20 of them on the ultra-right can stop the legislative process shows that we don’t have a government run by the majority, and thus no functioning democracy. It’s why structural changes are needed to end things like the Electoral College and the current filibuster rule in the Senate. Whenever I hear one of these legislators talk about “what the American people want,” I get angry. I remember how they ignored President Barack Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland to the U.S. Supreme Court because they said it was too close to the 2012 election (which was nine months away at the time), yet they rushed Amy Coney Barrett through just two weeks before the 2020 contest. Then there’s the fact that the last two Republican presidents were elected to their first term by a minority of the voters, plus many in the party’s seeming indifference to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. Enough.

Joseph Goldberg, Philadelphia

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