Monday’s Letters to the Editor (2024)

A complex problem

EDITOR: Like Michael J. Menendez (“Biden’s flip-flop,” June15), I’m a first-generation American and deeply grateful for the peaceful childhood I had here, that my parents didn’t have.I went on to get a teaching credential, and I teach math.The numbers in Menendez’s letter are misleading; the percentages per population of assaults, domestic violence crimes and homicides are lower among recent immigrants than they are among the rest of the population.

Immigration is a complex problem, tangled with heart-wrenching issues. People are fleeing untenable situations of poverty and violence. The solutions to the resultingmigration won’t be easy, but victimizing people seeking safety for themselves and their children doesn’t help. Let’s be grateful for the homes our families have been able to make here and try to be part of a thoughtful immigration system that gives others the benefits that we have been blessed with.

MADELYN HODGES

Tomales

We were warned

EDITOR: Sometimes it takes a major disaster to bring people together, and without warning a disaster can be devastating. The 2020 election was a warning. I suggest rational people ignore the rhetoric, prepare for the worst and hope for better. There is no complacency in politics.

J.W. HALE

Petaluma

Denying free choice

EDITOR: Looking at communism and socialism, with structured controlling power over everyone, we see that when bad decisions are made by those in charge, there are noother choices. Bad Russian decisions in the 1920s caused a famine where about 5 million starved to death and, in the 1930s, 6million to 9 million were lost to famine. In China, the policies of Mao Zedong of 1958-1962 caused maybe 45 million people to die starving. In North Korea, famine deaths in the mid-1990s were from 250,000 to 3.5 million due to faulty leadership. Then there’s Venezuela, which was prosperous until socialist Hugo Chávez inflicted poverty on the majority in a matter of just over 10 years.

Here, with capitalistic freedom, many companies go bankrupt each year, but are people left without necessities like food, clothing or shelter? No, because while some companies fail from bad decisions, unforeseen circ*mstances or even fraud, others succeed. U.S. economic and political power is spread out to states, counties, cities, independent ranches, farms and businesses.According to history, too much control is a road to failure.

Measure J was created by a remote special-interest group. Our ranchers and farmers should not be micromanaged by outsiders. Vote no on MeasureJ.

DIANE H. DAVIS

Penngrove

Appreciate Caitlin Clark

EDITOR: Congratulations to Bob Padecky for his forthright and informative column about the treatment Caitlin Clark is receiving in her debut year (“WNBA should embrace Clark, not isolate her,” June 11).

We have followed Clark’s career with special attention as we are also from Iowa. Her athletic abilities have caused her to break many records, and we especially like her pinpoint passes and long three-point shots. A special part of her attraction is the attention she gives young boys and girls in the crowd. Her play and presence caused record attendance in arena after arena. So one might expect her being in the WNBA would result in huge crowds whenever she plays. And it has.

But there is the unfortunate downside to her popularity, as Padecky has written. This was almost foreshadowed by comments Diana Taurasi made during the NCAA tournament: “Reality is coming. There’s levels to this thing. … You look superhuman playing against 18-year-olds, but you’re going to come play against some grown women who have been playing professional basketball for a long, long time.”

WNBA crowds have increased. TV exposure has greatly increased. The women are flying on charters not commercial airlines. Soon their salaries will be rising above MLB groundskeepers. All we’re saying is Clark should be appreciated not punished.

NICK and MARCIA ANTON

Santa Rosa

Presidential politics

EDITOR: It’s amazing the amount of money raised, by both parties, to support the process of running for president. All the posturing appears to be nothing more than subterfuge to me. So, a candidate amasses more votes than then opponent; sometimes by a wide margin, and then loses the election, trumped (no pun intended) by the Electoral College. I was under the impression we lived in a democracy, but friends tell me it’s a republic. I should have paid more attention in my civics class.

RICHARD CARDIFF

Sebastopol

You can send letters to the editor to letters@pressdemocrat.com.