Letters to the editor

When will we learn from history?

Editor:

Afghanistan, the graveyard of empires -- As we limp away from it in a perfect rehash of our Vietnam disaster, White House spokes-jugglers are dancing as fast as they can to pretend that someone knew, but couldn't be expected to know, but now we know and will certainly know better next time ... and if there is a next time, and thank God America isn't an empire so Afghanistan wouldn't be our graveyard. Oh no, certainly not.

But I did say, three months ago, to anyone who would listen: "...evil does exacerbate stupidity. Thus Hitler studied Napoleon's campaigns and still invaded Russia in the winter. And thus America colluded closely in the 1980s with insurgents who later became the Taliban, and who rose from dusty nothing to defeat and seal the downfall of the Soviet empire, and still we invaded Afghanistan, where the season is always wrong."

Scott Hartley

Fairfield

Voting is an important right

Editor:

The Second Amendment of the Constitution, the right to own guns, has become sacred in this country and is worshiped. There are more guns in this country and we have more mass killings with guns than any other supposedly civilized country. Some have blamed this violence on movies, TV, and the internet but these are available in other countries, too.

Sadly, there is not the same amount of importance for the right to vote. The 15th Amendment gave the right for people of color to vote, the 19th Amendment gave the right to vote to women and the 26th Amendment gave the right to vote to people as young as 18. It was a tragedy when the Right to Vote Act was destroyed.

This year, state Republican legislators are very busy erecting all kinds of barriers and rules to prevent many people from voting, especially people of color, young people and poor people. This is a serious attack on our Constitution and our democracy.

Norma Lindeen

Swedesburg

Keep on freedom rockin’

Editor:

If you missed it, Winfield hosted a dedication ceremony for Henry County’s Freedom Rock in the evening of Aug. 7. It was the 97th piece of the 99-county Freedom Rock Tour that began in 1999 with a young mural artist wanting to honor veterans.

The last two are scheduled to be completed by the end of this month.

The original rock is in Southwest Iowa and is repainted every year with different images, a thank you to veterans.

The artist came to the idea of every county in Iowa having its unique rock to honor veterans and promote Iowa tourism. It caught on in the past few years, and folks are taking to the road in search of these pieces of a puzzle calling it “freedom rockin’.”

Information including a list of locations can be found on the internet and some wonder why all rocks are not in county seats. Many are scattered in smaller towns that typically are more patriotic and community oriented.

Larger towns tend to be more diverse and require special attention to certain people’s feelings that some might not consider. Unfortunately, some of the rocks have already been vandalized, typical of what has happened across the country in the past few years.

Hundreds of historical monuments and statues have been destroyed, defaced or removed simply because some say they are offensive.

Nearly one hundred years ago a 42-ton boulder was placed at the University of Wisconsin to honor a geologist and former university president. But someone found an article in a 1925 newspaper describing that boulder as a (n word) head, therefore it was racist and had to be removed.

It’s not what they want to have as much as it is what they want others to not have.

But just keep on “freedom rockin’” and let the liberals whine.

Leland Graber

Wayland

Opinion content represents the viewpoint of the author or The Gazette editorial board. You can join the conversation by submitting a letter to the editor or guest column or by suggesting a topic for an editorial to editorial@thegazette.com