‘America first’ is ‘America last’
I was under the impression (maybe wrongly so) that it was Congress that made the decision to ratify, change or eliminate treaties made with other countries. That seems to have changed, as our fearless president seems to think he is the decision maker on all things.
If that is the case, then why are we supporting a Congress that really does nothing. But then we need someone to decide what color toilet paper goes into the restrooms and I’m sure even making that decision would result in more bipartisan bickering. Whether it is the Republicans or Democrats, no one is willing to step up to the plate and defend the United States. Talk is cheap as they say.
When confronted by the leader of Russia who stated that the U.S. is no longer a world power, our inept national security adviser just stood there. This is the kind of person our fearless president has chosen to provide sound support for this nation.
“America first” is gradually turning into “America last” (and this has been accomplished in two years) and the people that follow Trump have no idea as to just where he is taking all of us down his crooked and ill-thought path. Being sad over this doesn’t quite cover how I feel. It will be our children that in the end pay for all this.
My wife said, “I need to vote” if I want change. It will take more than my vote to end this poor excuse for an executive that sits in the White House. It will take the collective conscience of a nation.
Richard Barclay
Holden
Put aside our animus
Were we shocked? Surprised? The amoral, ill-informed, impetuous character of Donald Trump was on display before the 2016 election. Nominated by the Republican Party in their willingness to win at any cost, a deal was cut with a rogue. Now he is our duly elected president.
It’s modestly comforting that there are some “adults in the room … trying to do what is right,” protecting us from the president’s most dangerous impulses. However, operating inside as “unsung heroes” committed to “thwarting Mr. Trump’s more misguided impulses,” as the anonymous writer of a New York Times OpEd wrote, is on the far side of a slippery slope. It’s a mudslide into practices that usurp the constitutional foundations of our democracy.
In the 20th century, the trench from democracy to dictatorship has been dredged by fragmenting political establishments losing their footing. Into that muck struts an outsider, a populist promising to fix the problem, “drain the swamp” and offer better times. Thus, by alliance or election, authoritarian wannabes have floated into power by the miscalculations of influential political operatives who believed they could “keep bad decisions contained.” Thus, the tragedy of Venezuela with Hugo Chavez, Peru with Alberto Fujimori, Brazil with Getulio Vargus, Italy with Mussolini and gridlocked democratic Germany with Adolf Hitler.
Our democracy does not have to go with the flow. Clearly, we need to abandon our petty animus and act as an indivisible resistance to the tragedy befalling America.
Roberta Raymond
Trenton
Welcome to the Plasticene
Plastics are everywhere. Academics call this era the Anthropocene because humans are affecting geology. I call it the Plasticene because in the future, alien archeologists will find a layer of plastic.
Southwest Harbor’s plan to ban single-use shopping bags may be well-intentioned, but it is myopic and effete. It is true plastic bags littering roadsides and hanging from trees, as they do in countries around the world, are unsightly. However, macroplastics are only the visible spectrum of plastic pollution. Even if plastic bags are banned tomorrow, every plastic surface in Southwest Harbor and around the world will continue to shed toxic nanoparticles into the biosphere.
Plastic nanoparticles infuse air, water and soil around the globe, as well as the tissues of all living beings. Nanoparticle epithelial erosion may be the cause of madness, strife and violence everywhere.
Banning bags is not a significant step toward preventing the perils of pervasive plastic pollution. It is an impotent appeasement of environmental concern that places a burden on retailers and consumers, without challenging the petrochemical industry, or curtailing deadly pollution.
Yo Sarian
Southwest Harbor