Editor,
Thanks to the Cascadia Daily News for creating a set of citizen-inspired questions for candidates at both the local and state/national levels (CDN, Aug. 8, 2024).
After candidates weigh in on these questions, voters can cast an informed ballot. Then after the election comes, our followup to make sure they walk their talk. In addition, we can ask the local level and the state/national level officials to work together.
For example, in affordable housing, often great ideas come from the local levels but need the state/national level cooperation in the form of funding [to] help make solutions possible. At the same time, local poverty issues are often solved by tax reforms, like the expanded child tax credit that cut child poverty nearly in half, until Congress failed to renew it.
Our job as citizens is to make sure our elected officials at all levels follow through on these and other critical initiatives.
Willie Dickerson
Snohomish
Editor,
With the nonstop flow of negativity and mudslinging we are all dealing with here in this election frenzy, I realized how much I needed a break. That break came to me by venturing out to the awesome local music festival known as the Subdued String Band Jamboree.
Mr. Blake and his joyous group of volunteers put on a three-day event that is hard to describe in written word. What I realized as I was sipping on that much needed cup of coffee on Sunday morning getting ready to go back to the routine was pure harmony.
From the singing with the songs that made you smile, laugh and cry at times, to the instruments that just soothed the soul. Then getting all ages out to the big square dance and folk dance in the dust of a hot Saturday afternoon.
The whole thing is run by volunteers even down to little kids coming around to pick up trash with a smile because they were making a game of it. Man, if you could bottle that experience, I’ll take a case, please! If you have never been, check it out next August.
Gary P. Malick
Bellingham
Editor,
Former President Trump needs to be careful. If he stays on his glide-path, either he turns into a bedridden penthouse recluse, eating chocolate bars and letting his nails grow — like Howard Hughes … OR he eventually barricades himself in the “Trumpenbunker” at Mar-a-Lago and livestreams a truly epic rant: “Everyone not absolutely essential leave the room …”
His supporters are also in a bind: MAGAs who consoled themselves with “People rose from the dead in 2020 to cast ballots for Biden” may struggle with “Who’s fighting to stay alive to vote for Harris.” Editor’s note: Author inserted image here of former President Jimmy Carter.
Omar Firestone
Bellingham
Editor,
Ron Judd’s column, The Hammer, struck a chord with me.
A Pew Research study focused on national politics concluded that: “More than eight-in-ten Americans (86%) say the following is a good description of politics: Republicans and Democrats are more focused on fighting each other than on solving problems.” This applies to the sad state of affairs in our region.
If Ben Elenbaas had a (D) after his name instead of being one of the conservative members of the Whatcom County Council, he wouldn’t have been completely “dissed” for his resolution related to 22 North (CDN, July 9, 2024).
The number of deaths, police actions and complaints from neighbors and business owners enumerated in Elenbaas’s resolution, despite that it didn’t comply with required practices, cries out for accountability at many levels including with the county executive, county council, the Opportunity Council and Northwest Youth Services (NWYS).
The executive director of NWYS [Jason McGill] wrote in an emailed newsletter that Elenbaas’s resolution is rooted in a culture of white supremacy. I didn’t interpret the resolution that way. His resolution should have been an opportunity to bring people together on a critical matter that impacts our entire region.
Political polarization and incivility are intensifying today; it’s feeding on itself.
Our local government should be nonpartisan. People who might be divided on national issues should not necessarily be divided on local issues.
Critical components to solve local problems require trust in local government. To prevent further erosion of that trust, we need accountability. More talk, with no meaningful action (but throwing more money at it), is not the answer.
Delores Davies
Ferndale
Editor,
After the creativity, beauty and splendor of the opening and closing of this year’s Olympic Games in Paris, what was Los Angeles thinking to announce to the world the next Olympic Games in their city with the macho and bravado actions of Tom Cruise rappelling down from the top of the stadium and riding a motorcycle through Paris to close out the Games.
It goes downhill from there. The next view he’s riding through the streets to an airplane where he brought the Olympic flag to the U.S. Then skydived to the Hollywood sign. Ending with a beach scene that was an insult to the beautiful, dynamic U.S. athletes. They deserve better.
Helen Moran
Bellingham
Editor,
One of the most oft-used justifications of the [Kamala] Harris and [Tim] Walz ticket is the positivism and optimistic energy they bring to the race that will be carried into the office.
Staying positive and working to solve issues, rather than miserably complaining and baselessly insulting the opposition has been in rare supply since Donald Trump slithered onto the political scene over a decade ago.
He begs to be insulted at every turn because that is the only way of interacting he knows. There is no morality or substance to the man. He is a 78-year-old man-child, poorly parented, and a pathological liar with an overblown ego who is suffering from mental illness.
I pity those willing to continue to vote for him. They seem lost and soulless.
Disagreements over issues will always exist, but ignorantly debasing each other is the path taken by those who wish only to impede because they have nothing of value to offer to the conversation.
Kamala Harris and Tim Walz bring a long needed breath of fresh air to our national politics.
Michael Waite
Sedro-Woolley
Editor,
Studies in Conflict and Terrorism, Vol. 22, issue 2, 1999 contains a review by Paul de Armond titled A Time for New Beginnings, in which he examines the history of ideas motivating the fascist movement in the United States. Mr. de Armond locates Wise Use and Christian Patriots within that movement. He notes the merger of the Christian Right with Christian Patriot white supremacists emerged as an important fusion of the extreme right during the militia organizing drive of 1994.
Mr. de Armond urged a behavioral definition of fascism, such as the Reagan Administration’s use of the American extreme right to organize paramilitary action in Central America. He reminds readers that it was state and local governments that used armed right-wing paramilitaries like the Klan to attack civil rights activists, and that there is a continuity of the American paramilitary right that includes the Klan and Minutemen.
Paul says, “Fascism is a form of social change as a movement and a form of social institution as an establishment. … It is a rationalization of theft, just as statism is a rationalization of power, capitalism is a rationalization of acquisition, and sociopathy is a rationalization of the irrational. Anti-fascism is a form of informational public health, related to epidemiology.”
Christian fascism’s overwhelming success in subverting American democracy is attributable to the supreme strategist Paul Weyrich, Bruce Wilson reports.
To effectively fight fascism, one must understand netwar (networked psychological warfare).
Jay Taber
Blaine
Editor,
In today’s society, the standardization and objectification of women is a huge issue. Forcing women into these confined boxes of beauty impacts us all in so many more ways than we realize because everything stems from what we see. Our first impressions of someone are usually based on their appearance, and if the standards on beauty are the basis of how attractive we find this person to be, which therefore impacts our decision of how much we like this person, then anyone who does not meet these standards, (everyone), gets judged in some way wherever they go.
I believe that outer appearance does matter. Being attractive gives us confidence in ourselves and it’s an important way of expressing our personality. But what is “attractive”? Our issue is that the definition of “beautiful” that has been set by our society, is completely unrealistic and unattainable. We unintentionally compare everyone around us, including ourselves, to these standards because that’s what we see everywhere. We notice these tiny “imperfections,” and suddenly she’s pregnant, and she’s fat, and no one is allowed to just be. To just exist in the world and to live their life.
And these horrible standards that are being projected around us are the cause for all this judgment. For most people (me included), it’s hard not to judge people based on their appearance because that’s what society wants us to do. But we’re all just people, aren’t we? We were all born into the world in order to live. So why does so much of our living involve shutting others down and making living so much harder for each other?
Lucy [last name withheld on request]
15-year-old Bellingham student
Editor,
Guemes Island Ferry Workers, a bargaining unit of the Inlandboatmen’s Union of the Pacific, recently endorsed Liz Lovelett for reelection on Nov. 5 to the state Senate from District 40.
While District 40 state Reps. Debra Lekanoff and Alex Ramel are unopposed for reelection, Guemes Island Ferry Workers endorses them for reelection and encourages voters to show their support for them at the polls.
Reps. Lekanoff and Ramel are doing good work for Washingtonians. They have sponsored or co-sponsored bipartisan laws that protect access to health care, improve behavioral health crisis response and access to treatment, protect worker pay and worker rights, promote development of clean energy, and ease the tax burden on disabled veterans and active-duty military personnel.
Lekanoff and Ramel have sponsored or co-sponsored bipartisan laws that ensure students have the food they need so they can concentrate on learning, require collaboration on various issues with the tribal nations with which Washington state shares geography, and enhance and protect the health of the environment that sustains us all.
There’s so much more. Read their record of legislation at https://search.leg.wa.gov/search.aspx#document.
Type “Lekanoff” or “Ramel” in the Search Term field, and select “Session Law” under Bills and Other Biennium Documents.
Vote for Reps. Lekanoff and Ramel on Nov. 5 and let them know you want them to continue working to improve the quality of life in Washington state.
Richard A. Walker
Anacortes
Editor,
Re: The alarming rise of Christian nationalism:
“Christians, get out to vote. You won’t have to do it anymore. Four more years, it’ll be fixed, it’ll be fine. You won’t have to vote anymore, my beautiful Christians. I love you” pandered [Donald Trump].
Those unwilling to accept and attempt to resist the tyranny of a proposed Christian Theocracy brand of Islamic Sharia Law, according to Kevin Roberts, Director of the Heritage Foundation authors of Project 2025, are tacitly threatened with the promise of bloody Revolution:
“… a second American revolution, which will remain bloodless … if the left allows it to be …”
So there is: The ultimate question posed today for evangelical Christians who support [Trump] for President.
Are you serving God … or are you serving a man?
Isn’t it time figuratively, and yes literally, for a “Come to Jesus” moment for our Christian brethren, to expose and disavow the hypocrisy of, indeed, sacrilegious counterfeit Christianity in their midst?
Michael Kominsky
Bellingham
Letters to the Editor are published online Wednesdays; a selection is published in print Fridays. Send to letters@cascadiadaily.com by 10 a.m. Tuesdays. Rules: Maximum 250 words, be civil, have a point and make it clearly. Preference is given to letters about local subjects. CDN reserves the right to reject letters or edit for length, clarity, grammar and style, or removal of personal attacks or offensive content. Letters must include an address/phone number to verify the writer's identity (not for publication).
