When New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu signed HB 1264 into law last year, forcing voters to pay hundreds of dollars for vehicle registration and a driver’s license before they’re allowed to vote, he sent a clear message to young people living in New Hampshire: Your presence isn’t valued here.
He’s wrong. The voices of students in our democracy are needed now, more than ever.
As a rising sophomore living in Hanover, I have become active in New Hampshire politics in the past year. I’m involved with the Dartmouth Democrats and am committed to giving back to the state I am lucky enough to now call home. It’s an incredible time to live and work in the state with the nation’s first primary. But for countless students — and those without a car or the financial ability to pay for a registration — this new law restricts participation in our famous primary.
That’s why, as a passionate advocate for voting rights, I am proud to be interning this summer for U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J. Booker is committed to strengthening voting rights for all Granite Staters. He has publicly supported HB 106, which repeals Sununu’s voter suppression law, and has joined with New Hampshire Democratic leaders in calling for the governor to make good on his promise to student voters. He has also introduced a new Voting Rights Act, which would strengthen voting rights nationally, take on gerrymandering and make Election Day a national holiday.
Sununu needs to follow Booker’s example. New Hampshire’s young people are the future — they should have a say in how our government shapes it.
MADELEINE BERNARDEAU
Hanover
Reading the news, it is hard to imagine that progress has been made in reducing global poverty and hunger, but they have been cut nearly in half over the past 30 years. In countries such as Ghana and Honduras, one of the effects of chronic malnutrition, developmental stunting, has been reduced by nearly one-third over the past 10 years. This has been accomplished by emphasizing good nutrition during pregnancy and through the child’s second birthday.
But the work is not done, and we don’t want to lose the gains we have made, since worldwide nearly half of all the childhood deaths are linked to malnutrition We know what works — breastfeeding and improved access to nutritious foods, adequate vitamins and minerals, clean water and sanitation.
When a country’s children survive and thrive, so too does the country’s economic outlook. This improved economic development results in decreased poverty and hunger, promotes political stability, and decreases violence and the need for migration.
Please contact your federal legislators and urge them to increase financial support for the global effort to reduce malnutrition by promoting global child nutrition programs. Personal letters or emails to our legislators have been shown to be effective in getting Congress to act.
PAUL MANGANIELLO
Norwich
Chernobyl was a terrible accident. Within a few months, the world nuclear community understood the accident. We told our governments that “it can’t happen here.”
The plant had a serious design flaw, as well as operator error, of course. The Soviets designed a military equipment feature in civilian land-based plants. “Battleshort” switches allow the operator of military equipment to bypass all the automatic safety shutdowns. A military commander can choose to risk damaging or ruining the equipment to win the battle, save the crew or save the vehicle — ship, tank, etc. Why the Soviets chose to include such switches is still a mystery. The operator error was using these switches, then losing track of what they were doing.
Many people reviewed HBO’s “docudrama” Chernobyl. Robert Gale reviewed it in Forbes. A physician and an expert in bone marrow transplants, he volunteered to go to the Soviet Union and help in saving those who had acute radiation sickness, or ARS. This is exposure to lethal amounts of radiation. He worked there for two years and reports that his group saved 175 of 204 ARS victims. He and the medical community have followed their progress for all the years since.
Gale stated that the Soviets were eager to seek expert help for the victims, and wonders why the HBO producers did not seek expert help on radiation facts.
The documentary’s description of radiation is “dangerous and inaccurate’’ Gale said, continuing to spread the myths about radiation. One of the biggest mistakes is showing a person who was exposed to radiation, but without any radioactive material on the body, emitting radiation to others. This is like saying a burn victim will transmit burns to those who come for a visit.
The myths about radiation spread unnecessary fear. Gale relates that the world medical community believes there were up to a million unnecessary abortions as a result of the panic caused by the myths.
HOWARD SHAFFER
Enfield
The writer is a retired nuclear engineer.
I suggest one reason a recent Forum contributor believes “Our country’s value are gone” (June 18), is that the 1960s ushered in a new culture that began to overwhelm many churches, quickly gathered momentum in the 1970s, and today brings chaos into the lives of generations of parents and kids.
What new culture? A culture meant to gratify human wants with ideas like, soccer practice is more necessary than Sunday school, must-have “things” demand both parents work and forgo being home after school, the Bible should be toned down by an implied theology of “it ain’t necessarily so,” more comfortable interpretations of some of its stories, and a more loving God with lowered expectations and less insistence on accountability.
Soon, some churches headed toward worship that was in form only, devoid of any power, and many who saw no need to change that at all. Also, many human concerns began to shift away from church values to political laws, and the blanket notion that government must do it all, and even evaluate how much the church should matter.
In its great commission to proclaim the Gospel, I suggest many churches consider repentance, and also the recognition that a spirit-led awakening of values is urgently needed, like that of the 1800s, not just for kids and TV, but for our country as well.
DON KIVELL
Hanover