Dire warnings from Berkeley

I am proud to say that my grandson has been accepted to USC Berkeley. I am equally proud to say that he has turned it down and will be attending the University of Washington.

His field of study is physics and mathematics, so Berkeley would have been a good choice. However, even though Berkeley is a state university, the cost of tuition is extortionate. Four years costs a quarter of a million dollars.

There is also the issue of safety, as demonstrated in the riots in February, and more recently the issue of refusing to allow a conservative, Ann Coulter, to speak on campus because her safety could not be assured.

I ask what has happened to America when a state school is beyond the financial reach of most people, and the principle of free speech is abridged by threats of violence.

The other day I happened to listen to a program on NPR. The commentator was delighting in the fact that anti-Trump groups such as those on college campuses were “gaining traction” because President Trump was failing. It is the liberal media that is failing America.

We are at a point of inflection. History teaches us that when America does not come together and find a congruent position, adversity will happen.

The opposition is mindless to anything that either political side proposes. It is time for responsible journalists and politicians to lower the divisive rhetoric and be responsible.

Winston Churchill said “the price of greatness is responsibility” ... let’s make America great again.

This story was originally published May 4, 2017 at 3:42 PM with the headline "Dire warnings from Berkeley."