Migrants play an important role in the nation’s economy
If you’re angry because an alleged undocumented migrant has been charged for the death of nursing student Laken Riley, I get it; I’m angry, too. But please remember those six workers who died in the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore -- doing a job that no Americans would take. Without migrants, both documented and not, this nation would be in a much worse state.
FRED ROBERTS, DECATUR
Stable households are bedrock of good schools
There is much debate about school vouchers, with opponents saying the money should be spent on school improvement, especially in underperforming schools.
I propose something that will bring the greatest improvement to underperforming schools and will not cost one cent. Our leaders should speak often and forcefully about creating loving, committed, financially beneficial, two-parent families. Imagine the increased adult attention on the little ones, especially their homework.
Certainly, there are success stories involving single mothers, but I perceive that the challenges of single parenthood are a direct and strong factor in underperformance. Loving, committed households? One housing payment, not two?
After you finish rolling your eyes at this, open them a year, five years, 10 years from now and see little, if not zero, improvement in schools.
RAYMOND BUDAY, MARIETTA
Georgia PSC ignores calls for clean energy
It seems as though Georgia Power tells the Public Service Commission what it is going to do. I went to the PSC hearings, watched the expert witnesses from all over the country testify and listened to those who voluntarily showed up to stop the expansion of fossil fuels.
It’s as if the PSC doesn’t see the elephant in the room and ignores what the rest of the world is doing -- Texas adding 2,500 megawatts of batteries, the equivalency of two nuclear reactors, every year to stabilize its grid during peak demand; Minnesota’s decades-old time-of-use rate plans to manage the grid efficiently; South Australia moving up its 100 percent renewable target by three years, from 2030 to 2027; falling battery prices; 8 gigawatts of annual solar manufacturing in Dalton and Cartersville; corporate business moving to Georgia demanding clean energy; the United Kingdom closing its last coal plant, etc.
What am I seeing that Georgia Power isn’t?
JOHN DUKE, COLLEGE PARK
Dems attack the rich, spend without limits
In his State of the Union address, President Biden called for the wealthy to pay their “fair share” of income taxes. Analysis of the recently released IRS data for 2021 shows that the top 1 percent of Americans, with 26.3 percent of all U.S. adjusted gross income, paid 45.8 percent of income taxes. The top 10 percent of earners in 2021 paid 75.8 percent of all income taxes.
Democrats consistently attack the “wealthy” but never say what percentage a “fair share” of taxes is because their spending ambitions are seemingly limitless. Democrats use fear and class envy because they work with low-information voters. Democrats can’t sell their plans because most people oppose higher taxes, open borders, defunding the police and more.
Attacking the wealthy and anyone who opposes them politically is Democrats’ only option and has worked for decades. Maybe this year, voters will ignore their attacks and answer: “Are you better off now than you were four years ago?”
RONALD MEDHURST, WALESKA
