News & Articles

About truth and lies

I tried submitting the letter below to the Duluth News Tribune, but it was rejected by the opinion page editor because it contained information about Biden’s real tax proposals, as opposed to the fact that Trump has been spreading falsehoods about Democrats who, he claims, want to tax everyone to death. Personally, I have always considered at least half of the letters published in Readers’ Views, right or wrong, to contain politically motivated comments at any given time of the year. I know that sometimes a few weeks prior to an important election various news sources do not publish politically oriented comments, but we are still four and a half weeks out from the November elections, and I believe my last comment was published about a month ago. To me the Tribune’s refusal to publish this letter below, merely because It includes criticisms of Trump’s misinformation and his lies about Democrats, are indications that the Duluth News Tribune has officially entered the Twilight Zone. It’s exactly at times like this when readers need to be given facts rather than baseless allegations, and when journalists everywhere should be very concerned about publishing comments that are actually true!

 For Readers’ Views in the Duluth News Tribune
RE: Republicans have been lying about Obamacare

 For many years Republicans have been making some very questionable arguments for eliminating the Affordable Care act entirely. Probably the one  they expect to get the most mileage with, is the claim that people cannot be forced to purchase a product they don’t want. Well, firstly, We are all going to experience very costly medical expenses that private health insurers cannot cover. That’s because privately own companies are in business to make a profit and therefore cannot cover things like pre-existing conditions or long term healthcare expenses. As businesses their model of success is to charge the most for their product and pay the least number of claims possible. That’s why my mother (who suffered from rheumatoid arthritis for many years) had to constantly battle with her insurance company over clearly needed healthcare expenses! Private insurers can’t cover chronic and/or pre-existing conditions without creating a common healthcare pool in which all of us contribute to everyone’s costs.

Consider this: We already are forced to purchase products which many of us don’t want to buy—i.e. In many Sates one cannot be licensed to drive without at least liability insurance, because having such insurance helps pay for highway accidents and injuries we might cause for other drivers. This too be cannot be covered by the uninsured! We also pay sales and income taxes for many things we personally may not want or need!

Contrary to Trump’s claims, Biden’s plan is to increase taxes only for those making more than $400,000 a year. Can anybody really claim that this kind of income is not enough to feel comfortable and secure and to have disposable income left over? There is no workable substitute for Obamacare that also provides all of us with adequate coverage, even though Republicans promised they would get rid of it on day one!

Peter W. Johnson
Superior

Desperate times

How do we brace ourselves against the continuous bombardment of fear, rage and hate that this administration uses as standard procedure?  The interviews released by Bob Woodward have revealed, irrefutably but not for the first time, the naked horror.  Trump openly lied about the coronavirus and that has led to tens of thousands of real deaths.  This is part of our political process, a natural progression, from complicit Democrats (beautifully and terrifyingly outlined in Bob Kosuth’s letter Sept. 3), to the wealthy nurturing and funding, at least initially, the Tea Party and so-called “libertarians.”  Now here we are.

The lies, the cynicism and the well-planned appeals to the worst in all of us (racism, fear, and the desperate urge to believe that things will be fine if we just barrel further along this path of destruction of the earth and hatred of “un-American” ideas like justice and equity) have broken the social contract and left us raving at one another or cowed into silence.  All this from a “brilliant businessman” (five bankruptcies), a “self-made man” (inherited wealth) wearing a tacky baseball hat and unable to properly tie a tie (he is dressed by a valet and his penthouse home features a gold toilet).   

I have long believed that the “arc of history curves towards justice” and that “being the change” was the path.  With young people gunned down in the streets by other young people (Joseph Rosenbaum and Anthony Huber, shot by a 17-year-old with an illegal assault weapon), with Black people shot in their own homes (Botham Jean) asleep (Breonna Taylor), I am no longer convinced.

What I do believe is that these are desperate times. Change is coming because we cannot go on like this. Will Woodward’s account of this presidency be a trilogy, with the third book to be Hatred or Pain?  His administration is the most corrupt in history.  The Justice department is defending him against “defamation” by a rape victim!  Meanwhile Trump 2020 signs bloom on the property of “I got mine” fools living off their wives’ public employee paychecks/pensions.

Now the chatter has turned to how Bob Woodward “should have contacted authorities” (like who?  The “incompetent” FBI?  The corrupt Attorney General?) about the dangers of this presidency.  But thank goodness, the NFL has started smashing heads again. Instead of bracing ourselves, we can all be knocked off our feet and lulled into complacency.

 
Dorothy Wolden
Lake Nebagamon

Hatred, anger and blame

I’m not afraid of Trump.  That’s what Trump wants.  If we’re afraid, we’re easier to control.  The greater problem is hatred and anger, both derivatives of fear.  Anyone who has fear issues they haven’t dealt with, will usually look to blame others for their fear, and the resulting hatred and anger.  Trump’s main agenda is denial and blame.

In his campaigns, Trump’s act is to blame our “problems” on others, (Muslims, Mexicans, liberals, Hilary, and the media, to name a few.) This gives his base an excuse to blame the fears they haven’t dealt with, on his chosen scapegoats.  Denial and blame are the primary traits of addictive, fear-based personalities.  In fact, Trump and his base are co-dependent on each other for their ego stroking.  He tells them how great they are to believe everything he ways, and they believe and glorify everything he says.  Hitler did this with his base in Nazi Germany.  The difference was Hitler blamed the Jews, the communists, and the unionists.

I see where Trump now wants his followers to revolt if he doesn’t win the election.  That’s also typical of cowards like Trump.  They don’t fight their own battles.  In Trump’s case, he’ll use lawyers, attorney generals, “fixers,” (like Michael Cohen,) and the military (if he can,) to fight his battles for him.  That way, if someone gets hurt, it’s not him.  Cowards will try to make you as afraid as they are on the inside, so you run first.  It’s when you confront a coward they back down. Nancy Pelosi showed us that.

Here’s the real irony.  As with all fear-based personalities, the primary goal of fascist leaders is to control how “different” people think, look and act.  As a fear-based personality, Trump is the one who doesn’t feel safe.  He won’t feel safe until he’s in control of everyone and everything around him - which will, of course, never happen, which means he’ll never feel safe, EVER. The delusion is he can make it happen.  Any control he thinks he gets, drives him to want more control,  Trump, and those like him, FEAR those who won’t be controlled, never understanding they’re trying to control the wrong person.

So, no, I’m not afraid.  But I am concerned we have a narcissistic sociopath in office who will try to take the country down if he loses the election.  My greater concern, however, is we also have a large number of cowardly congressional Republicans who will enable his behavior, so they can stay in power at the same time.  We already saw that behavior when Trump was impeached.  That may be the real problem.

Gary Burt
Marble