Sanders Can Lead in the Senate
A message to Bernie Sanders: We love you as our senator, we love you as a wonderful, decent human being, we love you as a candidate for the direction you have pushed the Democratic Party this year. However, it is time for you to consider that achieving the goal of being the Democratic presidential nominee is unlikely and to move on to what is probably a more important role: leader of the progressive and possibly revolutionary movement that started as your campaign.
You must realize, down deep, that all of your programs will not have much chance of being enacted without a revolution in Congress. It won’t matter who is president without significant change there. As long as you continue to push your candidacy and expend funds and energy on a quixotic quest, then your movement loses more of its ability to make the change where it is really needed: Congress. In addition, it also runs the risk of helping one of the most dangerous candidates in this country’s history become president and do some significant damage to all of us.
Sen. Sanders, I propose that you convert your well-run campaign organization and fundraising machine to one backing a national slate of progressive candidates for the seats in Congress that are up for re-election this year. If you can get enough of them elected, you will be able to push your agenda into legislation that President Clinton will be happy to sign into law. Without that change in our lawmakers, neither a President Clinton, nor a President Sanders, would ever be able to achieve what is really needed to move the country forward. And without one of those names in the White House, we certainly look forward to dark days ahead.
Please consider my proposal to really lead a revolution and become the next leader of the Senate, in a role possibly more important than president.
Robert A. Piro
Norwich
The A-Bomb Ended the War
Forum writer Boris von York believes that the U.S. should not have dropped the atom bomb on Japan, because “some military believed that a surrender of Japan was likely by that time.”
After the Japanese fought for every useless island leading to Japan, ordered to never surrender, they were going to readily give up their homeland? It is not the Japanese emperor he quoted, nor MacArthur or American admirals who had their fleets bombed at Pearl Harbor. It was some opinion piece writers.
I served with American forces in the Pacific during the war. When we heard that the bombs fell and the “yellow peril” was smashed, our cheers could be heard all the way to Tokyo and Washington. It was like being freed from a death sentence.
President Truman was a very serious man who must not have made that decision lightly. He saved millions of American lives.
Herbert Kummel
Hanover
Baby Kale and Stereotypes
A thank you to columnist Jim Kenyon for his June 1 column that reminded us that stereotyping people is OK, as long as the end justifies the sliming. In this instance, his villains are uncaring Co-op members who buy sockeye salmon and organic baby kale — a class (no doubt) of Co-op shoppers he seems to be sure are all the same. He wants us to be sure of that, too. I think I bought sockeye salmon at one time, but have never gotten the organic baby kale.
Still, I suspect Kenyon could find some transgression in my past that would fit me neatly into one of his broad categories of people to trash because it works for him. That kind of thing works for a lot of other people, too, and I think it’s a shame.
Don Herzberg
Sharon
Fresh Air During Incarceration
On May 22, you ran a column about me and the sentence I received for the death of State Trooper Michael Johnson. I want to formally thank you, Jim Kenyon and readers who supported me, from the bottom of my heart, for showing a different side of the case and of me. It was the first time during my incarceration that I wasn’t made to look like a monster. It was a breath of fresh air after being surrounded by so much negativity for so long.
I’d also like to apologize to a community that I damaged. There is nothing I can ever do that will make up for the devastation that I caused. I can only hope to use the knowledge and strength I’ve acquired through this tragedy to help others.
I want pay it forward and extend a hand to any persons or organizations that could benefit from my experiences. I would like to help anyone on the road to ruin and advise them to take another path, one less destructive. I would love to be a part of something that is fixing issues that are plaguing our society.
I owe it to Sgt. Johnson to do something positive with the time I’ve been given. My wonderful parents run a Facebook page for me and I can be contacted at daleyep@gmail.com. Please keep it respectful; I will answer any inquiries.
Eric Daley
Baldwin, Mich.
We Need the Clough Center
My name is Mary Murphy and I’ve been at the Clough Center in New London for six and a half years. This place has given me more than I ever hoped it would because of the people who work here. The care that the patients are receiving is better than most places by far.
The residents here are offered a variety of activities that are not available at other nursing homes. To take this all away from them would be a disaster. How would your parents feel if this were to happen to them?
Staff here have been leaving because they have been feeling insecure about their future. But thank God that we have the agency LNAs to fill in where needed.
We are told that a final decision will be made at a June 16 meeting. We need your prayers and any help or input you can provide to keep the Clough Center open.
Mary Murphy
New London
Resist Fossil Fuel Development
A mass movement of people is growing to meaningfully limit the burning of fossil fuels on our shrinking planet. Recently my two sons and I joined thousands of others from the East Coast at a demonstration in Albany, N.Y. We went with a few busloads of people from the Upper Valley and other parts of Vermont to take part in resisting oil train traffic.
Using rail as a method to move oil has increased — in part due to public resistance to oil and gas pipelines over the last decade. We were very much impressed by the demonstration, which included blocking the tracks. It’s a smart plan to demand that existing fossil fuel reserves are kept in the ground and to not invest in and build new infrastructure. It makes sense now, with developments in renewable energy sources.
Millions of people across the world are getting fired up, with many putting their bodies on the line in nonviolent direct action. Now that people get the science of how and why our climate is changing, we can focus less on convincing people there is a problem and more on acting to reduce serious carbon pollution. Some people will insist that we cannot wean ourselves from dangerous energy sources, and they suggest our resistance is useless. But the value in organized resistance can be illustrated by past citizen-led movements. A good example is the pressure from people over the past 50 years to resist nuclear power and nuclear weapons. There is little argument that the public demand for safety and containment of nuclear fuels, including mass acts of nonviolent civil disobedience, helped price the industry in this country nearly out of business. Between the 1979 accident at Three Mile Island and 2007, “more than 120 reactor orders were ultimately canceled” states a Congressional Research Service report to Congress on nuclear power.
We will use less energy and the rest we will get from safe and sustainable sources. That is where we are going. Look at risingtidevermont.org or you can visit 350nh.org or 350vt.org to get involved here in the Upper Valley.
Duncan Nichols
Thetford