Letters to the Editor | May 8, 2023

I grew up in the 1970s, going to Liberty Bell Park Racetrack and Garden State Park Racetrack to watch horseracing with my dad. He was a “horse degenerate,” a term of endearment in horse race jargon, and I followed in his footsteps. I loved going to the track, seeing the horses and jockeys, feeling the excitement of the homestretch, and my dad placing bets for me. I was weaned on racing, and I loved it, but no more. Over the past few years, I’ve become convinced that horse racing is sanctioned animal abuse, popularized by a hardened industry that uses nostalgia and glamor to create a fantasy perception that institutional abuse is actually a sport. Humans ridiculously deliver imagined rational arguments on behalf of the horses, claiming that the horse “wants to race,” which is as cruel a statement as it is dishonest. My dad died in 1980, buried with a copy of the racing program from the day the Garden State track burned down. He loved racing, and he loved animals, but unfortunately, he didn’t live long enough to see the hypocrisy in that.

Mike Dobson, Indian Rocks Beach, Fla., medobson328@gmail.com

As we mark Teacher Appreciation Week, we should acknowledge the vital work of Pennsylvania civics teachers. If we hope to build a more civil, less divided country, civics teachers have an important role to play. At the Bill of Rights Institute, we work with more than 70,000 civics and history teachers, including more than 2,000 in Pennsylvania. Civics teachers, perhaps more than anyone, are working in the middle of our national divide. Division and polarization have surfaced at contentious school board meetings, in bitter fights over curricula, and even among students influenced by divisive rhetoric. A 2022 survey found Americans rated polarization as a top concern, outpacing issues such as immigration, health care, and unemployment. Civics education offers powerful tools, in addition to helping students learn about our country. Civics teachers equip students with life-long citizenship skills, including the ability to engage civilly with people who hold different viewpoints. They teach students to think critically, consider issues from diverse perspectives, and work with their community to solve problems. We need civics teachers now more than ever. They deserve gratitude this week and every week.

David J. Bobb, president and CEO, Bill of Rights Institute, Arlington, Va.

When a Palestinian is shot for attacking an Israeli soldier, the headline says: “A Palestinian is shot in the West Bank.” Deep in the story, one learns the Palestinian initiated the violence. Another example: A prisoner who recently died from a hunger strike was not in administrative detention. He had been indicted for terrorism and was awaiting a trial. He had also refused medical intervention. Journalists regularly interview the families of slain Palestinians, creating empathy for the family. Where are the interviews of Israelis who have lost their loved ones? I haven’t seen one interview of the Israeli father whose two young daughters and wife were recently gunned down. Having lived in Israel, I have seen this grief firsthand. For readers who do not have an inkling of the complexity of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the media’s depiction of Israel as a militant racist society is a scandal that contributes to antisemitism and jettisons the peace process.

Pastor Charles Adams, Philadelphia

Washington and major media outlets can’t stop talking these days about the possibility of the U.S. and China getting into a war over Taiwan. To hear some of our foreign policy experts talk, they appear to be almost looking forward to America having a war with China. But the public knows better; they know we should do everything in our power to avoid such a devastating conflagration. It’s ridiculous that President Joe Biden and other U.S. officials should back us into a corner saying we will defend Taiwan, which will eventually become part of China anyway. In an op-ed in the Washington Post, Jessica Chen Weiss, the Michael J. Zak Professor for China and Asia-Pacific Studies at Cornell University, gave cogent advice to policymakers on avoiding war with China. Weiss concluded that the conflict would ravage the island that over 23 million people call home, and would take Taiwan’s advanced semiconductors offline, cratering the global economy. She said there is little reason to believe that such a conflict would remain limited. A broader war would devastate the United States, China, and the wider Asia-Pacific region.

Andrew Mills, Lower Gwynedd

As we draw near a possible legislative showdown over the debt ceiling, I am wondering why by far the largest program, defense spending (close to 15% of the federal budget), isn’t on the cutting table. I know it’s a dangerous world and that war rages on in Ukraine, but the United States spends more on national defense than China, India, Russia, Saudi Arabia, France, Germany, Japan, South Korea, Brazil, and the United Kingdom combined. Sadly, the only thing congressional Republicans and Democrats can agree on is increasing the defense budget, which currently stands at $842 billion. The Democratic-controlled Senate actually recommended more than the president’s budget request for defense. With powerful military-industrial complex lobbyists behind them, the budget is often more than the Defense Department’s requests. Programs and projects the military rejects get funded anyway. As we near the fiscal cliff, all aspects of federal spending should be reviewed, and cuts considered.

Angus Love, Narberth, anguslove76@gmail.com

In a recent op-ed, William Collier wrote about his experiences seeking answers about his wife Dora’s cognitive decline. For more than a decade, the Colliers were met with delays in testing access, sizable medical bills, and eventually, an Alzheimer’s diagnosis. I don’t know the Colliers. I am not familiar with the intricacies of their experience. But I know this isn’t an isolated incident, nor is it the last time we will hear such a story. Dora is one of more than 280,000 people in the state living with Alzheimer’s. Her husband is one of the 400,000 people caring for a loved one with the disease. Every day, people experiencing cognitive decline are left without answers. Delays in receiving a diagnosis can directly impact the care they receive. Each day, 2,000 people living with early-stage Alzheimer’s progress into a later stage, making them ineligible to receive what few treatments are approved by the FDA.

Currently, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services does not cover the class of drugs that are FDA approved for the treatment of Alzheimer’s: Aduhelm and Leqembi. This is unprecedented. As we near the July deadline for the FDA to make its decision on traditional approval of Leqembi, we must demand that, if approved, there is equitable access and coverage of these treatments. We should not live in a world where experiences like the Colliers’ are commonplace. We cannot sit idly by as those in need are passed over by our health-care system. The Alzheimer’s Association calls on every person in Pennsylvania, in the United States, to demand that CMS changes its coverage determination. Demand equitable access to, and coverage of, this class of medications for the treatment of Alzheimer’s.

Clay Jacobs, executive director, Alzheimer’s Association, Greater Pennsylvania Chapter

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