Letter to the Editor:
Thiessen is wrong
To the Editor:
I read the recent article, Trump is my President, by Marc A. Thiessen. While I certainly disagree with his views, I thought I would express just why. I’m an old fart who can remember growing up and being taught things like right from wrong, honesty and telling the truth, to respect the Constitution and the rule of law. You know, the old Superman things. Truth, Justice and the American Way.
At any rate, it wasn’t too long ago that neither party would have even nominated a candidate who was impeached twice and when he lost in 2020, refused to concede. Lied and said the election was stolen, without any proof. He then tried to put fake electors in the Electoral College. When that failed, he had an angry mob storm the Capitol to try and stop the counting of the votes. He even stole classified documents and refused to give them back. He is a documented liar, a man who has cheated on all three of his wives, is a convicted felon and has no respect for the Constitution or rule of law. Not only did the Republicans nominate Mr. Trump, they supported him. Even knowing what he is and did. Not even the Senate Republicans would stand by Nixon when it came to impeachment.
So I am disappointed and very sad to see the what the America I grew up in has become.
Jim Athens, Keizer
COLUMN:
It’s that time of year
By LYNDON ZAITZ
|It is that time of year when people say “It’s that time of year to…” They mean it’s the time of year to be nice to others; to give to those less fortunate then ourselves.
Toys and clothing are delivered to children in need in our region. Boxes of the makings of a holiday meal are delivered to households in need ‘this time of the year.’
This week’s weather should remind us that not everyone around us is warm, nor has an appropriate coat to face the freezing temperatures. In Salem, the Mid-Valley Community Action Agency is overseeing two warming stations. The American Legion post on Lilac Lane in north Salem will open a warming station for veterans only.
Warming stations are needed not only by those who live on the streets, but also those who, for whatever reason, have no heat in their homes. Keizer doesn’t have a big homeless population but there are those whose homes do not have adequate heat. Keizer’s organizations—especially its houses of worship—need to live their missions and faith and give a helping hand to those most in need. As the Jackie DeShannon song says: “Think of your fellow man, lend him a helping hand. Put a little love in your heart.”
There is no doubt that Keizer is generous—it provides monthly community dinners, it donates money for playgrounds and football fields. Charity cannot always be given on the donor’s schedule—we are called to offer assistance when it is needed, such as a freezing cold snap coming through.
Simonka Place in Keizer is packed and cannot act as a warming station, much as the Union Gospel Mission itself. Our community may not have a large number of people who need shelter from the cold, but surely local, centrally located churches can open their doors, arms and hearts to those who can’t just turn up the thermostat or throw another log on the fire.
The same can be true for the city and its Civic Center. Baring a scheduled event, could the conference center at the Civic Center not be available for those in need?
Society is called on during these few days of cold to be charitable and giving. We must all remind ourselves that charity and caring are not for holiday season only. People get cold in February, people are hungry in June.
Yes, it is that time of year, but ‘that time of the year’ should be year round. Lending a helping hand is a year ‘round proposition.
[Reprinted from 2016]
(Lyndon Zaitz is editor and publisher of the Keizertimes.)
COLUMN:
Election will not lead to coronation
By GENE H. McINTYRE
Some among us may believe that we’ve already discarded the U.S. Constitution, Bill of Rights and rule by law. These profound changes may yet take place one day, even soon, but that condition of life and politics in these United States of America has not yet happened.
In plain terms, we do not now, nevertheless, with a certain electoral win, have a sovereign monarch (king, queen, monarch, or “strongman” with power to dissolve our representative government at his will.
However, these facts of life here will not stop president-elect Donald Trump from attempting to impose his power by adjourning our voter-elected Congress and impose his nominees. Yet, while key U.S. senators have expressed their intent to fulfill their constitutional duty, there’s some chance that enough Republicans will surrender their oath and duty, granting Trump his recess exercise, the appointment of uninvestigated subordinates.
Meanwhile, the 2024 presidential election did not win a mandate for autocracy. Trump didn’t win a mandate—or so-called landslide—whatsoever. He did win a majority of votes cast but only carried the so-called battleground states by slim margins. Hence, Trump’s win became the slimmest victory for an president in U.S. history, determined now that all votes have been counted. Trump’s lead over his challenger, Vice Presidentt Kamala Harris is factually recorded at 1.2% points.
What’s become obvious by a concluding look at the election’s facts is that those who placed Trump over the top, typically voting in favor of Trump did so because they want lower prices and cheaper homes, not chaos, dysfunction and autocratic or strongman government in the U.S..
Meanwhile, as of this writing, there are no announced plans by Trump to improve the lives of those American voters who believed they’d receive advantages by Donald Trump in the White House. Rather, projects promise that the lives of middle and lower earning Americans by the promised steep tariffs will pay for government in America.
Of course, as president, Trump will labor at imposing his vision of a Trump America designed after his idea of what’s good, right and true, especially for his pocketbook, Elon Musk’s banking of the big bucks into his accounts and those of their super wealthy pals. Predictably, he will jut his jaw and gesture grandly like a few European dictators, circa 1930s fame. But there will remain a distance between what he wants and achieving that condition of life here. That space is where the authentic, still solidly patriotic American, those who won’t allow democracy to die, will not let a dictator push him or her around now any more than he and she allowed one in Great Britain after the 1776 Declaration of Independence.
(Gene H. McIntyre shares his opinion regularly in the Keizertimes.)