Wednesday, July 22, 2020 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
LETTERS
Continued from page 12
We all need to be honest about the benefits and
subsidies that we receive: family support for that
first home down payment, tax benefits from home
ownership or farming, lower <death taxes= that are
irrelevant to families that struggle to pay funeral
expenses.
I9m not advocating guilt, or revolution. I9m
advocating honesty and a greater commitment to
fairness.
Karan Swaner
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To the Editor:
When I told a friend the other day that I was
a Libertarian, he questioned that by saying
that Libertarians are nothing more or less than
Republicans in disguise. His interpretation is
shared by most Republicans and Democrats alike,
but is an ill-conceived analysis of a political belief
or party.
First, as a Libertarian I equate partisanship not
as Democrat vs. Republican but as having differ-
ing views within one9s own party. Take abortion
for an example: I believe in a woman9s right to
choose, it9s absolutely none of my business what
she chooses to do with her body; I just don9t want
to pay for it. I believe in the 2nd amendment but
I firmly believe a line must be drawn between
common sense and ridiculousness, e.g., an AK 47
is not a musket. I believe some drugs like mari-
juana should be decriminalized but not made legal.
I believe racism can only be resolved from one9s
own heart and mind; removing monuments and
changing names at airports is nothing more than a
band-aid added to an ongoing problem. The leading
parties9 platforms mandate it9s all or nothing with
the aforementioned issues, leaving compromise
and common sense totally out of the equation when
debating these issues.
My friends call me wishy-washy because I9m
critical of President Trump; what9s not to be critical
about? Those same friends, for years, have called
me an idiot for questioning the 2nd amendment.
I9m neither a sheep nor a fish; I can9t swallow all
this BS, hook, line, and sinker.
I am a Libertarian because I have liberated
myself from the partisanship that exists within
both political parties. My point is; don9t some
intelligent and independently thinking Democrats
feel somewhat the same? Can9t there be libertar-
ian Democrats as well as libertarian Republicans?
Why let ignorant partisanship mandate the defini-
tion of right and wrong when it comes to COVID-
19, police brutality, racial injustice, abortion, gun
control, etc.?
The moderates of both parties have become the
silent majority and this is certainly not the time for
silence.
Terry Coultas
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To the Editor:
A July 15 contributor affected me deeply when
he praised this country9s freedom and equal oppor-
tunity in response, I assume, to our current racial
issues.
It made me question just when African
Americans supposedly became equal in this
country.
We all know the basic discrimination America
was built on. When this country was founded, only
white landowning men were generally allowed to
vote. In 1870, the 15th amendment gave black men
the right to vote, but only on paper. States figured
out ways to deny it with poll taxes or literacy tests
that remained until 1966. We know about segrega-
tion, bus seating, separate water fountains, housing
discrimination, redlining. But I never knew about,
<blue discharges,= neither honorable nor dishon-
orable, given out to simply deny GI benefits after
World War II, to black and homosexual veterans.
Nelson Henry was a veteran with a blue dis-
charge who at 95 tried to get his honorable discharge
17
papers. These veterans served their country honor-
ably; they received a blue discharge because they
were black. This piece of paper affected Mr. Henry
for the rest of his life.
The Legal Aid Network states: <It excluded Mr.
Henry from many jobs. It cut off his GI benefits.
And it resulted in him driving a cab for 13 years
instead of enrolling in dental school, where he
had already been granted a conditional acceptance
before he had enlisted.=
47,000 soldiers9 received blue discharges.
African Americans like Mr. Henry, got about
10,000 of them4or 22.2 percent4 black soldiers
made up only about 6.5 percent of the Army. The
program was structured specifically to deny recipi-
ents a way to change their status.
I am ashamed this happened. My father used the
GI Bill to get a college degree and a home. Mr.
Henry never had the opportunities or equality my
father had from the GI Bill.
Nancy Buffinton-Kelm
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To the Editor:
In response to a Letter to the Editor last week,
it was offensive to read someone suggest that these
protests are about people not <wanting to pull their
own weight.=
Anyone who is paying attention has learned that
our history has conveniently left out the brutality
and limitations set against Black citizens. The info
is out there and the history is being corrected.
My former husband9s family lost his brother,
a truck driver for Standard Oil, when he was
shot and killed on I-5 just south of Myrtle Point,
Oregon, in 1971. He was warned, but refused to
be intimidated by those who didn9t want him to
stop at a café there for what he called <the best
pie in Oregon.= He was a hard working father of
five children in Portland. His <guilt= was being
Black.
To the writer, your white privilege is showing.
Bonnie Malone
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