I am a centrist who served in the Nixon-Ford administrations. Judge Jackson’s sensory interrogation. Hawley and Cruz, and the stark contrast between her dignity and their smarmy posture, cemented their reputations as demagogues. Do I think they are ignorant? No, they are not ignorant. They are politically bankrupt. Their rhetoric reflects narrow personal ambition, not the patriotic leadership of a country struggling to live up to its ideals of thoughtful fairness for all.
Arthur Gardiner
Hanover
The New Hampshire Legislature met in marathon sessions March 16-18. It would be impossible to describe, in the number of words allocated to the Forum’s letter writers, the tense atmosphere at the Statehouse during this period. But allow me to offer a snapshot reflecting the essence of the Republican majority’s priorities for New Hampshire parents and taxpayers.
In less than an hour of the more than 30 we were there, Republicans voted against a bill that would have provided hot breakfasts at school for children in need (just pennies a day ), while massively supporting “educational freedom accounts” that siphon funds from public schools to provide direct payments to parents who send their children to private schools or homeschool them.
The projected surplus for this program is estimated to be 5,000% more than promised, which will cost taxpayers millions of dollars without liability.
If you’re wondering what the GOP’s vision is for our state, I think that’s all you need to know.
I urge you to vote against Republican extremists in November so that House Democrats can undo the damage done to New Hampshire families and our state’s economic well-being.
Laurel Stavis
western lebanon
Stavis (D-Lebanon) is a member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives for Grafton District 13. She is also a member of the Lebanon Planning Council.
In his March 25 op-ed (“A Parable for Our President”), John Carroll suggests that President Biden has been too timid to respond to Russian aggression in Ukraine. But his analogy is seriously flawed and his unspoken advice is dangerously flawed.
We are all outraged by Russia’s genocidal efforts to take control of its smaller neighbor. And we would like to do everything in our power to stop it. But just because we and our NATO allies could intervene directly using military force to stop the killing of innocents doesn’t mean we should.
Vladimir Putin placed Russian nuclear forces on high alert and threatened to use them if the West sent its military to Ukraine. The Biden administration has instead opted for a carefully calibrated response, imposing crippling economic sanctions on Russia and providing advanced weapons and other materials to brave Ukrainian defenders.
The problem with Carroll’s analogy is that a gun is not a nuclear weapon and a schoolyard is not the whole world. We would of course admire the heroic effort of a viewer to stop a gunman from assaulting a child. But the risk of harm from a Russian nuclear response to direct Western military intervention in Ukraine is by no means comparable.
We just don’t know if Putin would follow through on his threat. But we know that any use of nuclear weapons could immediately escalate into all-out nuclear war, killing hundreds of millions of people and possibly ending civilization. UN Secretary General António Guterres warned a few days ago that “the prospect of nuclear war is now back within the realm of possibility”.
The obvious longer-term solution is to eliminate the nuclear weapons that enable Russia’s extortionate aggression. Meanwhile, the horrible war in Ukraine will be stopped by brains, not brawn.
Stephen Dycus
Strafford
Like many other Americans, I am deeply concerned about the many concurrent crises facing our nation and our world today. I write to you today to ask Congress to pursue a path that could solve several problems at once: dismantling and/or reorganizing agricultural subsidies. The current system supports farming methods that destroy ecosystems, disrupt climate systems, and produce calorie-dense but nutrient-poor food, resulting in a sicker population, leading to lower quality of life and healthcare costs. higher health.
Agricultural subsidies should support regenerative agriculture. Regenerative practices result in much less pollution, net carbon capture instead of carbon input, and nutrient-dense foods that will contribute to a healthier, happier population. This is a win-win political solution.
Laura Mitchell
Grantham
In response to Richard Sachs (“Allow off-leash dogs in Hannover”, March 29): I didn’t quite agree with his letter. Once I was bitten by a dog while standing perfectly still, and he was with his owner and not on a leash, so that’s a theory that falls apart.
And his comment about his kids only being bitten by dogs on leashes made me cringe after he also said it was the owner’s responsibility to train pets properly because using a leash on a dog is “just as cruel as the occasional use of a leash on a small child.” Good thinking, but actually dogs and toddlers don’t always make decisions judicious in their actions.
Jo Ann Duprey
Springfield, Vermont.
