Donald Trump is proving to be as bad as his critics’ worst fears. Trump is clearly an autocrat at heart. He has no interest in, respect for or understanding of democracy. Like the most grotesque, self-aggrandizing, delusional dictators of the past, he not only lies about serious issues but about meaningless details, such as whether or not it was raining when he gave his inaugural speech. His brain is incapable of handling a reality that does not conform with his prejudices and cravings.
One undemocratic move is to ban government agencies from communicating with the public (goo.gl/5cjTJt).
Republicans, Democrats, progressives, libertarians and others disagree on many things. One thing I believe we can all agree on is that a government cannot be even vaguely of, by or for the people when that very government is forbidden from sharing information with the people.
This is not politics as usual. This is a slippery slope toward actual authoritarianism. Which of us will look back and know that we resisted the slide?
Jonathan Teller-Elsberg
Norwich
The Emperor’s Alternative Facts
Riding on the coattails of Tyler Cowen’s opinion column, “One Truth About Lying: It Tests Loyalty,” in the Jan.25 Valley News, I’d like to suggest that you read (or re-read) Hans Christian Andersen’s ever-so-timely fairy tale, The Emperor’s New Clothes. It brings alternative facts to a new level of reality.
Bente Torjusen
Lebanon
The Putin Effect
Now I get it! Donald Trump won the electoral college because Vladimir Putin delivered between 3 and 5 million fraudulent votes.
William Donahue
Windsor
Some contributors to “Taking the Measure of the Obama Era” (Sunday Valley News, Jan. 22) reached preposterous conclusions, not the least of which was Cass Sunstein’s notion that Barack Obama was the “cost-benefit” president. His $825 million “stimulus package” was of little tangible benefit because states typically used “stimulus” money not for projects, but to balance their budgets.
Obama never proposed a budget that was any better than $500 billion out of balance. In 2015, the U.S. recorded a government debt to GDP of 104.17 percent of the country’s Gross Domestic Product. (tradingeconomics.com). Under Obama the federal debt more than doubled — rising 116 percent (factcheck.org). What and where is the “cost-benefit” of all that new debt?
Debt must be served. In 2015, the U.S. spent $223 billion, or 6 percent of the federal budget, paying for interest on the debt. (fixthedebt.org) and that’s with interest rates at historic lows. It will only get worse when interest rates return closer to normal levels. Soon the cost of debt will outpace the cost of most government functions. Where’s the benefit?
Mohamed El-Erian is just the latest Obama cheerleader to credit him with creating jobs. In reality, under Obama our workforce shrunk. “In December, according to the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, a record 95,102,000 Americans were not in the labor force” (cnsnews.com).
Yes, more jobs happened, but the natural swings of the economic cycle would have led to a rebound in jobs. Those 15 million jobs for which El-Erian gives Obama credit simply replaced jobs that had previously disappeared, too many of them re-emerging as part-time with no benefits instead of full-time jobs with benefits. There would have been an economic recovery, and millions of jobs would have been created, even if the White House had been vacant for the past eight years.
Dick Tracy
Sharon
Tax Prep Help Available
February is soon to arrive and with it the 2017 personal tax return season starts. Every Tuesday starting Feb. 7 until the 11th of April, trained tax preparers will be at the Upper Valley Senior Center in Lebanon to prepare tax returns for seniors and low- and moderate-income taxpayers. Call the Senior Center at 603-448-4213 to make an appointment.
Peggy Mitchell
Canaan