Authoritarian playbook used in LA
It’s interesting to see how the president applies his law-and-order ethos to different situations.
A relatively small outbreak of violence in Los Angeles requires sending in the U.S. Marines. But if, as happened on Jan. 6, 2021, you beat Capitol Police officers in the name of a stolen election lie, then you get a pardon.
This is the authoritarian playbook in action. It has been repeated endlessly throughout recorded history.
MATT WILLIS, LAWRENCEVILLE
Military is not a tool for political gain
Donald Trump’s deployment of the National Guard and Marines in Los Angeles was a politically motivated move that undermined both the spirit and intent of using federal troops.
The protests in LA were largely peaceful, involving several hundred people in a city of nearly 13 million. When ICE agents in tactical gear indiscriminately detain people in a city that is 47% Hispanic, protest is a legitimate and necessary response.
The Los Angeles police were fully capable of managing the small minority who turned violent. Instead, Trump seemed intent on provoking conflict and disparaging the city and its citizens.
The military is not a tool for political gain or retaliation against perceived enemies. As a veteran, I cherish our freedoms of speech, assembly and protest. We have a Constitution, not a king.
JEFF JOSLIN, ATLANTA
We’re stuck in the middle of D.C. circus
Whether it’s the Democrats denying knowledge of President Joe Biden’s mental state while in office or writing post-presidency books about it for profit or the embarrassing, narcissistic feud between Trump and Musk, the rest of us are stuck in the middle of the ongoing circus that is Washington.
While many continue the struggle to find affordable housing, pay for health care, send their children to school or put food on the table, these hardworking Americans are completely forgotten by our elected representatives.
To quote the sage lyrics of Ronnie Van Zant: “They’re gonna ruin the air that we breathe, they’re gonna ruin us all by and by, I’m telling you beware, I don’t think they really care, they all just sit up there and get high.”
KIP HOWARD, MARIETTA
Baptists push against church-state guardrails
The United States was established as a secular (no religious or spiritual basis) government, with religious pluralism and freedom of belief among its core values. To wit, our Constitution deliberately makes no mention of God, and the First Amendment further underscores the separation of church and state.
Further, churches risk losing tax-exempt status if they go beyond the church-state separation guardrails put in place by the Johnson Amendment. So, if the Southern Baptist Convention indeed votes to work toward overturning marriage equality — what they wrongly call “gay marriage” — and indeed undertake such a campaign in state legislatures, the court system and political races, the organization should lose its tax-exempt status.
The Supreme Court’s 2015 Obergefell decision legalizing same-sex marriage was primarily based on the Loving v. Virginia precedent of 1967, striking down bans on interracial marriage. Will Southern Baptists come for that next? Jesus called out hypocrisy, exclusion and exploitation.
My husband and I call on fair-minded Southern Baptists — and others — to refresh themselves on the United States’ founding principle of religious freedom and on the basic Christian tenets of respect, dignity, freedom and grace.
DAVID PLANT, ATLANTA
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