We’re all suffering from Biden’s total control
Regarding the recent AJC letter headlined “GOP wants total control,” I had to shake my head! We are all suffering today due to Joe Biden’s total control.
The border is wide open, oil drilling is down, crime is rampant in blue cities and every appliance we own is under a microscope to be re-engineered at a cost to the consumer and businesses that manufacture them.
Outrageous spending has caused runaway inflation. And to counter it all, Biden wants more control over our bank accounts and is hiring thousands of IRS agents to stab the middle class. We already feel helpless!
GAIL VAIL, GREENSBORO
Wall Street also to blame for kicking the poor down
The song “Rich Men North of Richmond” has struck a chord with millions. My issue with the song is that it lays its criticism totally at the feet of the government.
The song should go north of Washington, D.C., and up to Wall Street. Wall Street and the CEOs who lead our private sector have played a major role in low wages and benefits in this country, yet as a group, they are rarely criticized.
It’s ironic that every time there’s discussion of raising the federal minimum wage of $7.25/hour, Wall Street resists and sends lobbyists to D.C. to nip such talk in the bud. Wall Street outsourced millions of U.S. jobs to Asia and we all enjoy our amazingly cheap goods made by folks who are paid even lower wages and benefits than our so-called minimum wage.
How is it that we never connect the dots? Since millions of us are shareholders of U.S. corporations via our 401Ks, we are a bit two-faced when it comes to Wall Street.
RODGER BURGESS, ATLANTA
Help’s needed because we all don’t have equal starting points
The opinion piece “Let’s help a new generation ‘Dream’” (Opinion, Aug. 27) talks about Dr. King’s legacy of nonviolent approach to seeking social change. The civil rights movement was won by leaders in the church whose plea was to listen to our better angels.
That is still a reasonable request. What do we hear now? We hear every absurd comment imaginable to justify that the poor deserve to be poor, etc. When confronting these comments with, you are a member of a class with privilege, the reply is, “I earned everything I have.”
Can this class ever concede that not everyone is equal in their starting point? That there are things that can diminish your grit and determination, such as marching your entire tribe from Georgia to Oklahoma, or burning crosses in your front yard, or hanging your husband on the town square?
We all grow up in a culture. They are all flawed. But we should choose the parts of our culture that embrace love.
JOHN SOUTHALL, ROSWELL
Teachers don’t deserve GOP witch hunt.
The GOP’s witch hunt against teachers seeks to prevent teachers from doing their jobs by bullying them into self-censorship. It’s impossible to teach with GOP commissars looking over your shoulder and encouraging parents to inform on you.
The chilling effect of GOP laws that police teachers’ conduct is compounded by these laws’ intentional vagueness and subjectivity. The laws effectively put teachers at the mercy of a single disgruntled white parent. (The witch hunt is completely white-centric – GOP officials would never reprimand teachers for offending Black parents’ sensibilities.)
The witch hunt’s first casualties will be the best teachers – the ones for whom teaching is a labor of love, who go above and beyond rote learning and who would rather get fired or quit than sell their students short.
Teachers are unsung heroes. They deserve better. It’s time we told the GOP bullies demonizing them to call off the witch hunt.
STEVE BABB, LAWRENCEVILLE
