Casting stones

by Sonny LaSalle, Hamilton

The number of letters that are critical of individual Republicans or the party as a whole have been fairly steady over the past few years, but have been increasing in frequency and vitriol with the upcoming election.  I want to state clearly that I am not defending the party or any of its members, but I am questioning the apparent feelings of superiority of many of the writers. I know the First Amendment gives all of us the freedom to write and speak our thoughts, but again I question the feeling of superiority. To further explain: when I read the consistent words of MFT, WA, ME, AT&MS and others I am reminded of the parable in the Bible when Jesus came upon the situation where a group of men had gathered stones and were about to stone a woman to death that had been accused of adultery. He stopped the men and said something to the effect of ‘let you who is free of sin cast the first stone.’ The men dropped their stones and walked away. Keeping that story firmly in mind, I want to question your sense of pride and superiority by presenting the following facts.

Consider the number one issue on the minds of most people–our southern border. On his first or second day in office, JB cancelled the construction of the border wall and opened the border. The result of that decision is hard to put into words and numbers, but the media is full of stories almost daily. Some of the numbers are: 10 million immigrants crossing the border and not following the established laws to become citizens, the got-aways included; the estimated costs to us taxpayers is around $200 billion and that does not include the impacts to schools and hospitals; an increase in the amount of drugs, including fentanyl, and the increase in crime including attacks on police officers in New York and the murder of the young nursing student in GA; the increased population in jails and prisons around the country all paid for with our tax dollars. There is more with this issue but I think we can understand the results of that decision.

The next issue is the withdrawal from Afghanistan. When the decision was announced, JB said he was following the advice of his generals as criticism increased. Two of those generals recently testified in Congress that JB and AB did not follow their advice and JB was solely responsible for the decision. The results of that decision are well documented. The exodus should have occurred from the Bagram military controlled air base, not from the commercial airport in Kabul that was controlled by the Taliban and resulted in 13 US soldiers being killed. The number of US citizens left there is unknown as are the number of loyal Afghan citizens that we promised to bring to the US. What is known is the $5 billion of equipment we left for the Taliban to use against us and to control the Afghan people. Again there is more, but we have to accept we were told a lie and understand the results of his decision.

Next is the issue of Iran. When JB took office there were sanctions including an embargo against oil exports which had resulted in a dire economic situation in the country with some reported demonstrations. JB lifted the sanctions, restarted nuclear talks and, most importantly, allowed export of valuable oil. The Iran economy bloomed to the point they could support Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis and we all know what is happening regarding Israel and attacks on US military sites in the region as well as shipping, and deaths of three US military personnel. Again there is more, but the results of the decision are known facts.

I could point out the national debt approaching $35 trillion and the continued effort to spend way more than is received each year as well as the illegal effort to forgive large sums of college loans that is a direct cost to each of us. Both parties share some blame for the spending that has happened under different administrations.

Enough is enough! Do you writers still feel you have a superior base from which to “cast your stones?” Are you heeding the words of Jesus? Do you want to make the existing divide deeper and wider? I truly hope not!