Letters to the Editor: Nov. 8, 2024
Taxed to death
I was reading the article about the homeless saying they are being ignored.
As a hardworking taxpayer, I am tired of my property taxes increasing.
Nothing is free. That money has to come from somewhere.
With high inflation and increasing cost of living, I feel I am taxed to death.
I know I sound like Scrooge, but I have worked hard all my life. Even today, I am working 50 hours plus a pay period in overtime in order to provide a good home — at the cost of missing time with my family.
Where does it say, if you make bad choices, we should tax everyone to help you live.
I get everyone’s situation is different, but I had a brother who was an addict for years, living on the street or at my dad’s house because he refused to get clean and get a job. There was always an excuse until my dad died and the free ride was over.
He died homeless on the street, without a dollar to his name, despite all the inheritance he had gotten. I was not going to take from my family to give to him, as he had already been through rehab several times.
You know the saying: Getting taxed is the penalty you pay for working hard.
Darrell Miller
McMinnville
Worthy of note
It was good to see Kirby Neumann-Rea’s Oct. 30 story and photos about an on-campus Linfield University mural.
The downtown McMinnville Art Alley mural inadvertently slights Linfield by not including the college as a local attraction of note.
What to do? Display a mural in a downtown location which applauds Linfield.
Tim Marsh
McMinnville
Blight on neighborhood
When dispatch relocated some weeks back, the transit center became a blight on the neighborhood. In fact, it is just downright scary at times.
The bus drivers still use the facilities for breaks and lunch, but don’t get the time, pay or authority to deal with the problems going on nearby. And knocks on the door often go unanswered.
Please note that we riders need someone on site to call the police when necessary.
Just some sort of presence would be appreciated. Otherwise, the place has become a ghost town of anything goes.
Call Transit Manager Cynthia Thompson at 503-474-4910 with your complaints or solutions. Thank you.
Beverly Montgomery
McMinnville
Just deserts
Journalist and author H.L. Mencken — the sage of Baltimore, who died in 1956 — said this about Tuesday night:
“Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.”
Brad Thompson
McMinnville
Comments
Bigfootlives
I'm with you, Brad. That's the main reason the country overwhelmingly turned out for President Trump. It was clear that this country could not take another 4 years of good and hard. And for all of the democrats crying about saving democracy, I hope that they will finally realize that they don't live in a democracy; it is a constitutional republic. But hey, let the 'common' people eat cake, am I right?
MSM
Why were the November 1 letters never made available for comments?
Otis
I'm sure that the deportation camps will have only the finest accommodations for the families that get sent there....and that none of them will be tortured or starved to death while waiting there. Of course, we'll never know about it because any dissenting media reporters will be in there with them.
treefarmer
Finest accommodations indeed! Perhaps they won't even have gas chambers!
mikes
Interesting. "they don't live in a democracy, it is a constitutional republic." Last I looked our wonderful American experiment and how it has developed is like Democracy is to our Republic as Monarchy is to Kingdom. We live in a Democratic Republic established by our Constitution. Big, I'm sure you know we live in a Democratic Republic, because the phrase you use Constitutional Republic means establishing a Republic based on democratic principles. Like the Constitution says “deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”. "Consent of the governed" means Democracy. Our American adventure continues.
JH
I agree with 'Big' that our government is a constitutional republic. However, I also agree with Mikes essential point that the foundation of our constitutional republic is representative democracy. We can't each be spending our days making government decisions, so we elect representatives (by democratic process majority vote) to do that. Elements in the constitution like the Bill of Rights are there to help protect the minority from a potentially tyrannical majority. Theoretically, the Congress and Supreme Court are supposed to act as checks and balances on a potentially tyrannical President. Finally, the election outcome was not 'overwhelmingly' in favor of Trump. As it stands now, the popular vote margin is 49.9% Trump and 48.3% Harris - only a 1.6% popular vote difference. This is much less than Biden's 2020 victory margin, and about the same as Biden's electoral vote margin. But unlike what happened in 2020, Harris and Democrats have accepted the outcome of an election that was conducted in the same manner of as the previous one - equally free and fair. I'm not one of those happy with the election outcome, but congrats to those who are. Happy or not, we're all in the same boat now. We have different opinions, but the policies enacted by the new administration will either help or hurt all of us - whether we voted for or against Trump. I think the majority made a terrible choice this time, but I accept it and hope it works out for the best for all of us.