Joe Cunningham’s stand against PACs a good sign for 1st District | Letters
I think we can all agree that money in the American political system has corrupted our elected officials and impeded solving problems. Hundreds of millions of dollars are poured in from special interests and political action committees, or PACs – making our legislators beholden to corporations instead of their constituents.
I noticed our congressman, Rep. Joe Cunningham, was recently endorsed by End Citizens United, a group dedicated to campaign finance reform and taking dark money out of politics. This is a great sign for our district and South Carolina.
Cunningham is a co-sponsor of H.R. 1, which would, among other things, do away with dark money in politics and decrease the level of influence corporations have on our elected officials. Cunningham has never taken a single dollar from PACs and thus isn’t beholden to special interests like so many in Washington.
We need elected officials who put people over corporations and listen to the needs of their constituents. I trust Cunningham to continue putting “Lowcountry over party,” as he likes to say.
Justin Jarrett
Bluffton
Trump antics during national anthem show he’s unfit to serve
I am disgusted by the video of President Donald Trump waving his arms around like a faux conductor and then turning and pointing to people he knows during the singing of the national anthem at a Super Bowl event.
It infuriates me that he called Colin Kaepernick an SOB and bullied the NFL to take away this man’s career because he kneeled on one knee during the national anthem.
Kaepernick assumed this position as a sign of protest for something he cared deeply about. Standing for the anthem is a sign of respect, but kneeling on one knee, facing the flag in silence, is not unpatriotic.
Kneeling on one knee has been regarded as a sign of respect by soldiers in front of a fallen brother’s grave, by subjects facing their monarchs, by Catholics when approaching the altar and by young men proposing to their ladies. Trump’s phony indignation rang hollow.
Top Republicans, including Lindsey Graham, said during the 2016 campaign that Trump was unfit to serve. He has proven over and over again, in so many ways, that they were right. It’s too bad these same people became Trump toadies, despite this reality.
Beverly Leick
Hilton Head Island
Economy soaring? It’s more than pay stubs and stock markets
I saw in a recent survey that slightly more than half of voters approve of President Donald Trump’s handling of the economy. I’ve also heard various politicians from both parties tell me how smart the American people are. These are, in my opinion, contradictory bits of information.
How smart is it to run up annual deficits of $1 trillion for the foreseeable future in a (marginally) growing economy with low unemployment?
How smart is it to wage tariff wars that drive record numbers of small farmers out of business and then pay off big agribusiness with our tax dollars?
How smart is it to cut taxes on businesses and the wealthy at the expense of the middle class (increasing income inequality)?
How smart is it to fall for that old “the tax cut will pay for itself” line again and again?
I understand that the administration in power usually gets credit (or blame) for the performance of the economy, but the American people need to look beyond their narrow self-interest and realize that the economy is more than just what shows up in their paychecks or how high the stock market gets.
Michael Robinson
Hilton Head Island
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