Letters to the Editor

‘E Pluribus Unum’

I agree with Mr. Keating’s letter concluding that we not stand by the sidelines, but I am confused by his arguments leading up to it. In fact, all of his examples from our founding documents do not mention “God,” except for “Nature’s God,” leaving the question of any specific Creator completely open.

We should be resetting ourselves in America’s motto: E Pluribus Unum, the one actually adopted by our founding fathers. “In God We Trust” has only been around since mid-1950s, approved during the McCarthy era, one of the more embarrassing episodes in our country’s history. In fact, that particular motto is younger than I am.

And, what does it mean, anyway? Does it mean that we stand by the sidelines and trust God to clean up after us? – the opposite of the responsibility that Mr. Keating advocates? The same “Creator” or “Nature’s God” that gave us free will and intelligence should be able to trust us to take care of this planet and all of our fellow beings.

And speaking of taking responsibility, our hysteria over gas prices is unwarranted – we have some of the lowest gas prices in the world, and certainly lower than our biggest economic competitors/partners. I filled a tank of gas in Germany in 1983 at a Deutsch Mark per liter – about $5.00 per gallon. That was 40 years ago, but here in the U.S. in 2022, it is a price that takes over the nightly news. We are decades overdue in switching to clean energy – and instead our response is to pay to drill for more oil, and I suppose trust in God to remedy our mistakes. I don’t think that is the way it works.

Mary E Hoyer

Salem

It’s time to add to the Supreme Court

When Donald Trump was in office, he and Mitch McConnell made three lifetime appointments to the Supreme Court. McConnell went so far as to defy Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s dying wish—that the next president appoint her replacement—by packing the Court with Amy Coney Barrett just eight days before the 2020 election.

The result? Today’s Supreme Court has been taken over by a hyperpartisan supermajority that just dismanted abortion care in America.

But there’s something we can do. The Judiciary Act of 2021 would add four seats to the Supreme Court bench—restoring balance to the court. It’s the solution we need to move away from the extremely partisan rulings that now threaten our fundamental freedoms. Recent polling showed that the majority of voters support expanding the court.

Congress has changed the size of the Supreme Court seven times already in our nation’s history. It’s time to do it again. I’m urging our representatives to back this important bill now so we know they want to protect the rights of the American people. The stakes are too high to stay quiet on this important issue.

Douglas Cowan

Mt. Pleasant