Collins should hold town hall
Constituents of Sen. Susan Collins in the Ellsworth area are calling for her to join us for a public meeting. It is time for the senator to hear first hand from those in her state about issues that are important to us: health care, the environment, education, human rights, protection of minorities, and social and economic justice. During the congressional recess from Feb. 20 to 24, when she will be in Maine, it is imperative that she meet with us and listen, as well as share her positions on the issues.
The Trump administration is pushing a racist, xenophobic and authoritarian agenda. Any compliance with these anti-social qualities is unacceptable from our senator. In the weeks, months and years ahead, Collins’s vote is likely to be crucial in preventing this agenda from moving forward. We require the senator to represent our views, and be our voice in the Senate. Let’s ask her to follow our Maine motto: “Dirigo.” Let our voice become our senator’s voice and change the national tide.
We insist upon a public meeting in Ellsworth or Bangor so Collins will hear our voices, loud and clear, and so that she will stand with us for what will keep our country safe and just.
Lucille Osterlin
Ellsworth
Good journalism key to democracy
Recently “the media” — an imprecise term at best — has been increasingly maligned. There are certainly reasons for criticism. But it is in our best interest to remember the role of good journalism in our democracy. It is essential. It is through the press that the public finds out about what is happening in the world. It is how we learn and encounter ideas and experiences different than our own. It is also how we learn what is happening within our government, and it plays a crucial role in holding government accountable.
The Trump administration wants us to believe that no information is good information, except what they provide themselves. We must not be fooled. We need to stand firm for the freedom of information and ideas, and for the right of dissenting opinion to exist. We need to be critical thinkers who can tell real news from “fake news,” discern what is actual fact versus “alternative fact,” and consume our media accordingly.
Doing so is asserting a deeply American ideal: that we the people have the right to know what is happening in our nation and to engage with it, either though support or protest, through disagreement or concurrence. Freedom of the press was enshrined in the Constitution for a reason, and this systematic discrediting of the press is deeply dangerous. For democracy to work, we the people must be in the know.
May we stand by the press and consume good journalism. Their work is more important now than ever.
Regina Rooney
Hope
Stand up to Trump
Where are the ” troublesome young men” of the Republican Party in these troubling times? In England, in the years leading up to World War II, a group of rebellious Tory politicians stood up to Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and advocated for their country instead of remaining blindly loyal to the Tory Party in power.
Where is Sen. Susan Collins, who last August came out against Donald Trump?
Where are the many decent members of the Republican Party who should be shouting disagreement with policies and executive orders that run counter to the traditions of the Grand Old Party? Instead, we see the Republican Party embracing Trump’s wild ideas just to prove they have power over the opposition party.
Silence will lead to loss of lives. Silence will lead to violence against Americans. Silence will cause the historical record to condemn those who are going along with whatever Trump wants without using their own powers of analysis, reflection and careful moral deliberation.
Democrats who are voting yes to approve Trump’s nominees are voting yes to support Trump’s agenda. This will not bode well for rebuilding the support for the Democratic Party. Independents, including Sen. Angus King, who are voting yes on some nominees need to ask themselves why they are supporting Trump.
In the Senate all it would take is a handful of “troublesome people” to stand up to Trump and say “no!” Where are they?
Janet Leston Clifford
Mount Desert
Travel ban a betrayal
President Donald Trump has shown us in the first few weeks of his administration that he is stopping at nothing to attack the Muslim community that he is so wary of. Since his most recent attempt to ban from entering the United States the citizens of seven Muslim-majority nations, a federal appeals court has temporarily halted this executive order.
As a teenager concerned about the future of our nation and global community, I feel that the many international relationships that have been forged over the course of our existence as a nation are being threatened by this new and rambunctious administration. As Catherine Besteman, a professor at Colby College in Waterville, put it in her Feb. 9 BDN OpEd, this travel ban is a throwback to old discriminating immigration policies, such as the dismal Chinese Exclusion Act of the late 19th century.
The ban is unconstitutional and unlawful. As U.S. citizens, we should push our representatives in Congress to stop these pointless and damaging actions and prevent Trump from taking actions like this again. A Reuters article told of an Iraqi man who had worked closely with the U.S. government during the Iraq war who was denied access to board a plane with his family to the United States.
The U.S. has betrayed him and all of the other immigrants by denying their opportunity for a new life in America.
Noah Burby
Winterport
Mallett Brothers rock
Thanks for the great Feb. 8 article on the Mallett Brothers. For BDN readers who haven’t had the great pleasure of hearing them live, they should do it at the first available opportunity. The Mallett Brothers are one of the best live bands on the planet. They always rock the house!
Thanks to the BDN for getting the word out on the best band in Maine. They do their father proud.
Ed Socker
Camden