Letters to the editor for Aug. 23

Trump’s nuclear weapons policy is outdated

President Donald Trump’s nuclear weapons policy is based on outdated thinking and is projecting a new world disorder.

The new president has provided few details on his most important duty as president: reducing the risks posed by nuclear weapons. During the campaign, Trump made irresponsible comments about nuclear weapons. Saying that we need to must “strengthen and expand” our nuclear capacity, which is already unparalleled.

For a guy who was elected to “drain the swamp,” the new president certainly likes spending money on nuclear weapons. The upgrade plan he has suggested, an acceleration of what President Barack Obama’s upgrade, will maintain a force that is one-third larger than required and costs more than $1.2 trillion over the next three decades.

Proponents argue that we need these weapons in the event of a military conflict with Russia. There is a lingering fear that Moscow will be tempted to threaten or use a small number of nuclear weapons to try and coerce the more powerful NATO to back down.

This type of thinking is a relic of the Cold War. Once nuclear weapons are used in a conflict against another country that is also nuclear armed, even in small numbers or in a regional conflict, there is no guarantee that there will not be a nuclear response and a cycle of escalation leading to a global nuclear war.

Given the facts, it’s best that our country give up our fiscally-irresponsible nuclear weapons policy and start discussing more affordable arms control.

If they’re not stood up to, you won’t be able to speak freely in this country

The clash in Charlottesville between the white nationalists and the so-called anti-fascists (carrying clubs, bats, wearing helmets and body armor?) was not surprising. The Antifa (anti-fascists) are actually the fascists of old in which they intimidate, attack, and destroy private property and any citizen who dare speak outside of what “they” deem as acceptable speech. They are paid by George Soros, and defended by the vast left media and Democrats across the country. The white nationalists and Ku Klux Klan had a permit to protest the taking down of a Robert E. Lee statue and other Confederate monuments. As Donald Trump said, not all the people against this were white nationalists or KKK but those that were against the dismantling of historical recognitions of significant figures of history in which over 600,000 people gave their lives — most being white. The Antifa’s job is to stifle free speech period and bring down the country. They had no permit to march and showed up for the very purpose to engage the white nationalists and others opposed to the removal of said monuments. They are more organized and more sinister in their intentions as they have showed at numerous “free speech” gatherings across the country with their black uniforms, baseball bats, mace, and violence. Don’t be misled. They are the real fascists. And if they’re not stood up to, you will have no safe haven to speak freely in this country. They are truly evil.

Raising taxes to reduce debt is foolish

In Gene Robke’s latest “masterpiece” entitled “I guess you can’t fix stupid,” he criticizes the Republican states of Kansas and Louisiana for trying to achieve economic success by changing the tax laws. According to Robke, it didn’t work, so they went back to the original. I certainly wouldn’t be criticizing these states for trying to reduce taxes; after all, they could do like the blue state of Illinois and just raise the tax by 32 percent! Keep in mind that Illinois is currently losing 30-35,000 people annually, a small figure, as to what it will be in the next few years.

Robke should worry about the dark blue state of Illinois and not the states of Kansas and Louisiana, which are doing very well financially and don’t have 35,000 leaving annually.

I agree with Robke’s statement that you can’t fix stupid. No truer words were ever spoken! That’s why Illinois is $150 billion or more in debt. If King Madigan thinks raising taxes by 32 percent is going to reduce the debt, he’s only fooling himself. When you have a debt like Illinois’, raising taxes by 32 percent is like putting a Band-Aid on Carlyle Dam after developing a crack!

“I guess you can’t fix stupid” would apply to Illinois more than any other state. One would think that any politician with an IQ of 2 or more would have seen this coming about 20-25 years ago and done something about it then. What a shame, but Robke is right when he says you can’t fix stupid.

Some people’s minds are permanently set like concrete

Writer “Colonel” Lee Pitzer has said some really stupid things in this forum, but in his last letter where he wrote, “Barack Obama was not perfect, but was damn close,” takes the cake. There is no point in listing the numerous gaffs, idiotic and downright dangerous decisions made by the Obama administration that have placed this country in jeopardy. Most readers are familiar with them. In the 30 years I worked at Scott AFB, I knew a number of Air Force colonels. Most of them were fine, knowledgeable officers, but some of Pitzer’s ilk, who refused to listen to well informed, lower-ranking people, military and civilian, because they did not agree with the colonel’s opinions. These folks thought that their position as full colonel made them experts on all subjects.

There is an old military proverb that states, “Some things are too important to be left up to generals.”

That also applies to colonels. I have refrained from commenting on liberal writers’ constant barrage of odious letters because I have said before that some people’s minds are like concrete, all mixed up and permanently set. I have known thousands of military people, both at work and socially, and I can count on the fingers of one hand the military I have known who, like Pitzer, were liberal Democrats and none who shared his belief that this country does not need a strong military.

What do O’Fallon schools have against foreign exchange students?

Why is the O’Fallon school district against foreign exchange students? I recently moved here from Europe due to work, and we wanted to host an exchange student. The superintendent stated that the policy is only two foreign students per year and only through the Rotary Club. I have not gotten any further reasoning beyond that thus far, but I find it extremely disappointing that my tax dollars, which help fund the school, can’t be used to not only culturally enrich our students, but allow O’Fallon to be a good ambassador to the world. My family hosted a foreign exchange student when I was young, and I was a study abroad student when I was younger. What has happened to us? Is this a lack of money? Because the salaries of the administrators lead me to believe they have plenty of that. Is it the lack of caring or the overcrowding of our schools? The multitude of districts overlapping each other in this area suggests they have capacity and care about education? Is it sponsorship deal where Rotary gets exclusive rights to exchange students? That would not seem beneficial to anyone. So why then is this school district near an air base with a lot of well-traveled people in the area so against expanding our horizons and allowing greater opportunities for foreign exchange students, as well as our own students?

This story was originally published August 22, 2017 at 3:12 PM with the headline "Letters to the editor for Aug. 23."