Union letters to the editor

United we stand

Wednesday afternoon in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, thousands of people lined the Harvest Parade route for the start of Old Threshers.

As our National Banner, our Flag, leading the parade, approached and passed, people all ages and sizes stood, saluted and placed their hand over their heart.

There was cheering and clapping but no obscene gestures or outbursts of hate.

It was a show, a display of respect, unity and patriotism for our country.

The politicians should take note that the nonsense and corruption that has infiltrated our government was not of interest.

Their attempt to divide and conquer “we the people” will not succeed.

Leland Graber

Wayland

Unhappy with our elected officials

Congress passed the Inflation Reduction Act and it included a cap on insulin costs for Medicare recipients. Senators Grassley, Ernst and Representative Miller-Meeks voted against this. Unfortunately, these three managed to prevent the $35 a month cap on insulin for the rest of the public with diabetes.

Senator Grassley has made absurd comments about IRS agents armed with AR-15 guns coming after taxpayers and small business owners. Sadly, he doesn’t have the same concern about these guns being used in so many of the mass murders that have taken place in schools, churches, synagogues, grocery stores, malls, theaters, etc.

Norma Lindeen

Swedesburg

Learn from History, Don’t Suppress It

I have recently finished reading The 1619 Project, a collection of essays dealing with a wide range of topics about the African-American experience beginning with the first African slaves brought to Jamestown. It is thoroughly documented and sometimes graphic in its depiction of violence perpetrated upon Black Americans from 1619 to the present.

Does it make me uncomfortable? Yes. But history is not intended to make us comfortable. Rather it hopefully teaches lessons that will help us be better human beings. As the saying goes, “Those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it.”

Unless we are able to confront the uncomfortable parts of our history, we will never be able to overcome the barriers that divide us. If we are to truly unite our community and our nation, we must know how we got to the place we find ourselves.

There are those that would suppress that history. They would create or maintain a “past” that never existed, and they lash out against those that would hold up a mirror.

Sadly we have seen this before. The fascist movements in Italy and Germany demanded adherence to their mythic stories and burned books to suppress any alternatives. Putin invaded Ukraine based on a false story about Russia’s past and its supposed place in the modern world.

Let’s get politicians out of the classroom and allow teachers to teach. Let’s allow students to grapple with history—the good, the bad, and the ugly. Might there be some pain occasionally? Perhaps. But as any coach or trainer will say, “No pain, no gain.” We will never improve if we cannot discover where we need improvement.

Jeff Fager

Mt. Pleasant