Letters to the editor | Sunday, Nov. 22, 2020: Recognizing what’s really important
The most valuable things we own
Is success graduating from college and finally having that career with the view? Is it saving hundreds of dollars? Is it having the most expensive brands, the most expensive car? In order to be successful, our purpose in life was that materialistic, that mindless?
And the most important things we own? No question, it would be insecure to say it is my makeup or expensive clothes. It is weak to say something that helps my depression such as my antidepressants or journals. Since this is the new roaring twenties maybe the most valuable possessions I own are my MacBook, iPhone or Apple watch?
All things I am grateful for, yet my most valuable possession is the page turner nobody saw coming. It is the bond I am privileged to share with my remaining triplet sister, Danielle. This ongoing bond with her is my most valuable possession. I cannot share it. It is what I cherish most.
Our most valuable possessions are intangible. It is your children, your family. It is the love.
What does it mean to be successful? We all were born that way. We already are.
Michelle Nicole Dessayer, Turlock
Preserving power to the wealthy
Conservative language in America is doing what it has done to every democracy throughout millennia; destroying it and preventing solutions, while lining the pockets of the wealthy. Conservatism’s primary function is to keep the aristocracy in charge at any cost, which puts it directly opposed to a democracy.
Just look what the power of conservative messaging does to common sense. Conservative language convinced you that trickle-down economics works; it told you that unions, which built the middle class and created safe working environments, are bad for the country; it raged that healthcare is not a human right, although other industrialized nations of the globe disagree; made you believe that fossil fuels were better than renewable energies; convinced millions that there is a deep state, as well as a cabal of baby-eating pedophiles who want to take over the world; and of course the latest, that voter fraud is rampant, even though there is no evidence. The lies, fears, and unpatriotic flag-waving become more astounding whenever they feel a slippage in their power.
Conservative icon David Frum said it best. “If conservatives can’t win by democratic means, they won’t reject conservatism; they’ll reject democracy.” No truer words.
Dean Jepson, Turlock
Trump’s support isn’t all evangelical
Re “Trump’s racist appeals fueled a white evangelical tsunami” (Page 6A, Nov. 17): Dana Milbank explains President Donald Trump’s enormous vote total by labeling “white evangelical Christians” as racists. His proof of this smear is that they “maintained their roughly 80% support of Republicans.” He doesn’t bother to explain how most of Trump’s votes came from people like me — agnostic and definitely not evangelical. I guess being white is enough to make me a racist, too.
But what really bothers me is that in every election in my lifetime African-Americans have voted approximately 90% Democratic, and I have never seen or heard anyone claim it is because they are racist. Can you spell “hypocrite”?
The election is over. President-elect Joe Biden won. You can stop the daily sliming of Trump, unless of course you are afraid there is enough concealed fraud in the vote counts to deny Biden the presidency.
Douglas N. Brower, Ballico
A sideshow to distract us
My theory is that President Donald Trump is trying to make such a circus of the election that this is what people will remember, rather than the massive failures of the four years of his administration.
David Tucker, Riverbank
Column missed the point
Re “To unite the country, Biden needs a Republican Senate” (Page 1B, Nov. 15): The author is clearly a political hack. Look at the Obama administration and how much damage a Republican Senate did to it. They were set on refusing just about anything he wanted to do for everyday Americans as opposed to the rich. If Hillary Clinton had won, they had stated they would block her from even appointing one judge, and with President-elect Joe Biden they have said they will block him on even the cabinet positions. We need a Democratic Senate to prevent this atrocity.
The author whines about doing away with the filibuster; when a Republican senator read “Green Eggs and Ham” to prevent a vote, they shut down the government several times to keep good common sense bills from passing. This whole column is a lie.
Rita Hodges, Modesto
A theory on Trump’s end game
Many people are wondering why President Donald Trump would overhaul the leadership of the Pentagon at this time, putting Trump loyalists in control. I think it logically fits with the Republican strategy of trying to sow doubt in the voting and delaying certification of votes in key states with Republican legislatures. Those legislatures would step in and overturn the votes and elect their own slates of electors for Trump.
The Constitution lets state legislatures choose the method of selecting electors, and states have let voters determine them for over 150 years. To take the decision away from voters would be undemocratic and an abuse of their responsibility to the voters. An illegitimately re-elected president would feel the need to use the military to put down the massive protests that would erupt around the country.
Dwight Horning, Modesto
Preventing COVID spread
2020 has been quite a year: devastating fires, violent protests and a record-breaking heat wave.
What about the COVID-19 virus? A light shone in early November 2020: Pfizer made a 90% effective vaccine for COVID-19. Don’t throw away the masks just yet. Vaccines go through safety tests which can take years, and it will not be available to everyone overnight.
A virus did not damage my gait, hearing and speech; a drunken driver hit me in 1992. I teach people to not drive drunk. My teaching continues.
Prevent getting and spreading the virus until this vaccine becomes available:
• Celebrate holidays with few people. Preferably, those you live with.
• Use digital platforms like Zoom, or postage mail, to connect with others.
• Watch religious services on TV or online. Gatherings can spread the virus, causing illness or death.
• Limit physical interactions with others. Wear a mask in populated areas and stay 6 feet away from others.
• Avoid heavy drinking. If intoxicated, you are more likely to behave in ways that promote the spread of the virus and even drive drunk.
• Hand washing is your best line of defense.
Lori Martin, Tracy