It is now time — beyond time, actually — for Republicans, Democrats and anyone who believes in our country to question and demand answers regarding Donald Trump’s allegiances.
It is obvious that his closeness to Vladimir Putin does not align with the requirement that he serve the United States. His statements of disbelief regarding every U.S. intelligence office’s statements regarding Russian involvement in our election indicates perfectly where his allegiance is, and it is not to the U.S. He cannot, and should not, be our president.
Matthew Locker Lebanon
Though you may not find Ebola in the headlines in your newspaper, now that the outbreak ended earlier this year, the after-effects of the epidemic are still a daily reality for many.
In Liberia, there are only 50 doctors for a population of 4 million. In comparison, Dartmouth-Hitchcock has over 1,400 doctors. Because of scarce facilities, equipment and health care workers in much of sub-Saharan Africa and low-income countries, women die from preventable maternal complications and children suffer from treatable diseases at an extraordinary rate.
There would be a national outrage in the United States if American women were dying in childbirth at these rates, and indeed there should be outrage for such needless loss of life. Now more than ever, Congress should push forward legislation that gives the world hope: the Reach Every Mother and Child Act is that beacon of hope, seeking to end preventable maternal and child deaths by 2035 and save 15 million children and 600,000 women by 2020.
The act has bipartisan support and does not increase taxes; it will refocus support on maternal and child health in the poorest and most vulnerable populations, create a coordinator to strategize and ensure these goals are met in a cost effective way, and scale up effective evidence-based interventions. However, the Reach Act will not be passed in Congress before the end of the year if lawmakers do not make it a priority. Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Kelly Ayotte have co-sponsored the bill, which is a promising start. Sen. Shaheen is on the Foreign Relations Committee, to which the bill was referred. It will not be pushed to a vote without external pressure from passionate New Hampshire voters.
Please show your solidarity for mothers and children around the world and call or email Sen. Shaheen to urge her to push the Reach Act to vote in the Senate: 202-224-2841 or shaheen.senate.gov/contact/.
Katie IrwinHanover
Clinton Dropped the Ball
Hillary Clinton, along with her campaign staff and advisers, supported by the traditional elite of the Democratic Party, Wall Street and wealthy corporate and individual contributors, pointed to her continued support of the status quo. And it has been the status quo policies that over the past 40 years have largely withdrawn support from millions of American workers and those at and near the low end of the economic scale. One could say that Clinton’s and the party’s head-in-the-sand blindness earned us the election of Donald Trump.
Clinton and her cohorts’ choices have become what may be a devastating loss for all of us. Hopefully, Donald Trump’s administration will surprise those of us who didn’t vote for him, and his future policies will move into a more balanced direction than many of us may expect. We’ll see.
It’s so frustrating to see Democratic Party campaign elites blaming everyone else but themselves for their loss. They blame FBI Director Comey, false news, and whatever “other” they don’t like, but never themselves. The real reason for their loss was not to solidly address the failed policies of the last 40 years, and not to recognize that failure as the foundation for the fears and despair of millions.
There was one candidate who campaigned on much-needed Democratic Party policies, who drew thousands to his many rallies all across the nation, and whose policies best represented the essential ingredients needed for a true and lasting democracy. That was Sen. Bernie Sanders. Polls also showed him to be the better candidate when matched against Donald Trump. Clinton and the party elites’ arrogant adherence to the past, and their fierce desire to hold power, blinded them to what was happening. Let’s hope this election forces the blinders off.
For suggestions in developing new national policy, I recommend Sen. Sanders’ excellent new book, Our Revolution.
Charles McKennaWilder
Remember 1938
In 1938, Adolf Hitler was named Time’s Man of the Year.
In 2016, Donald Trump was named Time’s Person of the Year.
Does history repeat itself?
Mary Ann Mastro Lebanon
Thanks for Old-Fashioned Christmas
I just wanted to give a big shout out “thank you” to everyone who helped in the Old-Fashioned Christmas in Hartford Village on Dec. 10, making it a great hit for myself and my granddaughter. We both enjoyed ourselves; thanks again to all.
Sue and Jailyn Mattson Hartford