Letters to the editor for Sept. 3

Trump is a fighter

I couldn’t agree more with Elly Mills’ Aug. 25 letter in which Mills listed 26 specific accomplishments Donald Trump has achieved in less than a quarter of his first term in office. Of course, Lee Pitzer, Kevin Gagen, Joe Reichert and other local liberals wouldn’t give him credit for a single thing no matter how significant it might be. In stead they harp on Trump’s lack of decorum, or his frequent tweets, or his plainspoken manner or whatever.

Author Evan Sayet says that over the last 60 years the Republicans have been playing by the rules of dignity, collegiality, and propriety, while the left has been engaged in a knife fight where only the rules of Saul Alinsky and the Chicago mob apply. Sayet says that Abraham Lincoln knew that Ulysses Grant was a drunk and lacked propriety, but he “couldn’t spare him because he fights.” Same thing with General George Patton who was a vulgar talking son of a gun. But he fought and he won. Well, Trump may be rough around the edges, but thankfully he’s also a fighter and has discarded the rules of collegiality and nicety and is engaging in a knife fight like the Dems have done for years. I’m glad because as Sayet says “We can’t spare this man. He fights.” In my opinion Trump is fighting the liberals and the liberal media to make things better for America.

On another subject, thanks to preeminent conservative writer Leon Anderson for returning to “Letters”. His recent letter on “Colonel” Pitzer was spot on.

The statues are history, not racism

The liberal fanatics have gotten their ways. First, no Confederate flags, now no Confederate monuments. The statues are history, not racism. It’s too bad that some people get their feelings hurt so easily.

I was not crazy about the white haters H. Rap Brown, Malcolm X, and the so-called preacher Al Sharpton, but the whites are supposed to take that.

What happened in Charlottesville was just as much to blame on the liberal communists who were swinging clubs and throwing rocks and spitting on the opposing side.

Disability benefits should be paid only to those who are unable to work

There have been several letters in the Belleville News-Democrat supporting and criticizing military retirees receiving disability benefits. How about a different view?

Disability benefits are designed to provide compensation to those who lose all or part of their income due to a disability issue and are unable to work.

As soon as an individual is able to return to work, the disability benefits should cease. That is the way the system works in the private sector. The same should apply to the military.

Disability benefits should be paid only to those who are unable to work. The retiree who works full time for the private sector or the government should not receive disability benefits. Also, those who work full time should not be exempt from paying real estate taxes. So yes, as one writer said, “The system is broke.”

I hope Harvey will make those that doubt climate change reconsider

I hope the disaster in Texas, which is not over as of Aug. 27, will cause Gerald Luebbers and others that doubt climate change to reconsider.

The problem is made worse by increased temperatures worldwide. If you go to The Weather Channel online, you can see a display of temperatures and radar images worldwide. The oceans are much warmer everywhere. This causes the storms.

If not, stand by, because it’s still August as I write this, and hurricane season continues into winter. There are likely to be more, and in places you don’t expect. Scientists advise people who live on our coastlines to move inland long term, at least 200 miles. Someday, maybe after many of us are gone, but our grandchildren are not, both New York City and virtually all of Florida will be under water. Meanwhile, you can continue to make fun of Al Gore. I just hope people will remember you did.

Trump would be praiseworthy if the claims were true

Elly Mills gave us a list of Donald Trump’s supposed accomplishments in the months he’s been president. Trump would be praiseworthy if the claims were true. Unfortunately, they’re not. They’re a mishmash of items that Barack Obama had already initiated, poor decisions on Trump’s part (withdrawal from Trans Pacific Trade, withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement), or they were going to happen anyway (jobs created, rise in mortgage applications, etc.). He’s done a few minor things that were needed, but overall his presidency so far has been utter chaos and an abject failure in regards to the major issues we face (health care, tax reform) while he goes off most weekends to play golf.

There have been reports of the Secret Service being stretched thin with manpower and funding. It’s also been reported the Secret Service agents are treated by Trump as servants who are there to fetch things for him. One report was that that Bill Clinton treated the agents as friends, George W. Bush with respect, Obama as if they were family, whereas Trump treats them as servants.

The pardon of Joe Arpaio was an inexcusable act; it ignored the Rule of Law and all it means in our democracy. It indicates that Trump will do what he wants despite past precedent or requirements of the Rule of Law. I’m not questioning his right to grant pardons, but it must be done in the structured arrangement, which he chose to completely ignore. These are the actions of an authoritarian administrator who could gradually take the steps to a dictatorship.

The Golden Eagle in Highland

News Flash: The golden eagle was about to lay a golden egg in Highland. That would have created meaningful jobs in Highland, Illinois, but because of a marginal zoning line or other controlling reason was not able to lay her eggs. It’s too bad that we are so wound up I this black and white mentality when we should be focusing on the gray area.

Basler Electric wanted to bring some if its future manufacturing to Highland. This is what we need to be doing, and the city fathers, the county fathers and the state fathers should have welcomed them with open arms, but they didn’t. They just couldn’t see any gray light.

Our leaders would jump up and down to help Walmart locate anywhere they would choose.

Why didn’t the Highland leaders gather some citizens and take busloads to Springfield and challenge the system? You all seem to find the time to make the effort to go to Springfield or Washington to help the transgender people find their way to the john.

The local news media, newspapers, did little to help. We need to rebuild our industrial base. That will bring the blue-collar jobs back, so that our children can see some light at the end of the tunnel.

This story was originally published September 2, 2017 at 12:00 PM with the headline "Letters to the editor for Sept. 3."