Come Jan. 20, Granite State residents will be living under single-party government, with the New Hampshire House, Senate, Executive Council, governorship — and the U.S. House, Senate and presidency — controlled by Republicans.
How will the GOP use its monopoly on power? We are in the midst of an opiate crisis, with hundreds of overdose deaths last year; will Republicans expand the programs, like Medicaid, that are delivering treatment? Every day dozens of desperately sick New Hampshire residents sit without treatment in emergency rooms because there are no beds for them at the state hospital; will Republicans allocate the funds it takes to relieve their suffering? The last three years have measured the warmest in recorded history; will Republicans take stronger steps to reduce carbon emissions?
The indications to date are not encouraging. In Concord, Gov. Sununu is focused on giving tax breaks to business owners, weakening workers’ unions and discouraging young people from voting. In Washington, D.C., Speaker Paul Ryan and Majority Leader Mitch McConnell are focused on cutting Obamacare, Medicaid and Medicare, in order to give tax breaks to the wealthy. In Manhattan, President-elect Donald Trump assembled a cabinet of Wall Street bankers and business tycoons focused on making the rich even richer. These are the priorities of big donors and lobbyists. They do not address the pressing needs of our state or our country.
Republicans have great power, but with great power comes great responsibility. It is up to us to remind them, regularly and persistently, of that responsibility.
Jim MatthewsHanover
I certainly hope I never find myself seated next to Professor Randall Balmer at a dinner party (“Why Have Vermonters Massacred French?,” Jan. 8), lest I be subjected to a 20-minute lecture on how I am contributing to cultural hegemony, not to mention the desecration of an entire language, because I insist on mispronouncing my own name. Way to conform to the stereotype of the condescending academic, Randy!
Simone Pyle Strafford
It bears repeating that the man I consider Putin’s lackey is not my president; his appointees are not valid; and above all else, undermining legitimately elected candidates with a puppet government is treasonous.
Kevin McEvoy Leveret White River Junction
The amoral have used immorality to sabotage our democracy, rig our elections, rig our economy in favor of an aristocracy. Republicanism and conservatism have won absolutely nothing. Instead, those entities have proven that their religion is no religion at all, but merely a tool used as frosting to cover their hate, racism, bigotry, hypocrisy, fraud and corruption. That “frosting” is transparent to all.
There will be a revolt: Hell hath no fury like a nation’s people scorned. To those of you who say we are “sore losers,” I say that you are “crooked winners” and have nothing to be proud of. You have no claim on morality — zero! It’s apparent that you share many of Donald Trump’s “qualities.” Just look at what you have installed — not elected, but “installed” — as president of the United States.
Wilfred SmithNorwich
Regarding allegations that Russia “hacked” the U.S. election in November, I’m writing to offer some perspective that I haven’t seen covered in the Valley News.
First, the allegations are limited to charges that Russia participated in obtaining the Democratic National Committee and Clinton campaign emails that Wikileaks published in October. There’s no evidence (and no allegation either) that Russia hacked U.S. voting machines.
Second, Julian Assange himself has said repeatedly and emphatically that neither Russia nor “any state actor” was involved in delivering the emails to Wikileaks.
Third, the hacking allegations have been disputed by Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, former senior CIA/NSA officers and analysts who organized in January 2003 to protest the use of faulty intelligence to justify the looming invasion of Iraq. On Dec. 12, VIPS released its latest public letter, this time maintaining that the DNC/Clinton emails were in fact leaked, not hacked. If they had been hacked (by an external party), the electronic trail would be indisputable and easy to divulge without compromising national security.
Since the intelligence community has yet to produce any hard evidence of that, VIPS suggests that the emails were downloaded by an inside source and leaked to Wikileaks via a physical storage device that left no electronic trail.
Our nation desperately needs a strong and coherent opposition party right now to check the excesses of the Trump administration. If the Democratic Party can’t face up to the internal corruption that cost it the November election, if it can’t clean house and reconstitute itself with a clear vision and demonstrable integrity, and if the nation is to be distracted and drained by yet another false-flag international conflict, then we’re in bigger trouble than we know.
Deb Hawthorn South Woodstock
I don’t think Trump voters realize how angry many other U.S. citizens are at them for electing that dangerous and unstable buffoon into the office of our president. We are not taking lightly the huge threat they have caused to our democratic nation and civilization and planet.
There will be civil unrest because of their inability to discriminate between truth and lies.
Alice MorrisonNewbury, Vt.