Veterans Day should be a chance to reflect on the debt America owes those who serve

On veterans

Dear Veteran: I would like you to know I think of you often.

Every time I attend church I think of how your service gave me freedom of religion.

Every time I walk into a voting booth I think about how your sacrifice enables me to have a voice in my government.

Every time I see children getting on a school bus I know that both girls and boys are being given the privilege of an education — thanks to you.

And every time I am speaking my mind about my government, I know you are the reason I am free to do so.

Yes, dear veteran, I think about you every day. And I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Jean Lerner, Hilton Head Island

On Cunningham

As someone who voted Republican in every 1st Congressional District race from Tommy Hartnett to Mark Sanford, I am thrilled that I took a chance on U.S Rep. Joe Cunningham.

Cunningham kept his word to the Lowcountry by working in a bipartisan way to represent us.

When Cunningham was named one of the most bipartisan members of Congress and awarded the Jefferson Award from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for his bipartisan leadership, I knew he deserved another vote from me.

I am so grateful for Joe’s service to the Lowcountry.

He exemplified what public service is supposed to be about. It’s not about amassing wealth and influence — it’s about serving constituents.

Thank you, Congressman Joe Cunningham.

You restored my faith in elected leaders!

Lisa Savage, Charleston

On the Democrats

So the blue wave failed to materialize despite the following:

▪ Support from essentially the entire media.

▪ The refusal of the two most prominent social media outlets to distribute conservative views.

▪ A tsunami of dollars that dwarfed the money available to Republicans.

▪ A president who never cracked the 50% approval level in the polls.

The Democrats lost badly and as MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough put it, the election was an “absolute repudiation of the Democratic brand.” What an embarrassment!

Yes, Joe Biden appears to have narrowly prevailed and won the presidency. But the Democrats spent enormous sums to capture the Senate, confident that with few seats to defend they would flip enough seats to finally secure a majority.

However, they failed: incumbent Republican Sens. Susan Collins, Lindsey Graham and Mitch McConnell will return to the Senate and in South Carolina — where 25% of the electorate is African American — a Black Democrat with an enormous money advantage lost by more than 10 points.

Perhaps more striking is the result in the U.S. Senate, where the Democrats lost several seats instead of expanding their margin as they and the pundits confidently predicted. In two years the Republicans will probably retake control of the House.

A final embarrassment is the collapse of the well-funded effort by the Democrats to flip a number of statehouses from Republican to Democratic; the Republicans were successful here, too.

America is simply not ready for preening, virtue-signaling liberals.

Francis Dunne Sr., Hilton Head

On David Brooks

I think that the recent op-ed by New York Times columnist David Brooks today — titled “What voters are trying to tell us” — was pretty much completely wrong.

So I would like to offer my opinions on the lessons learned.

In the U.S. Senate elections, despite the pre-election polls and prognostications, the Republican Party held its majority. It’s my opinion that what the voters are telling us is that they didn’t want U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, as far left a fanatic as one could find, to lead that body.

In the House of Representatives election, despite the pre-election polls and prognostications, the Democratic Party lost 10 seats. It’s my opinion that the voters are telling us they don’t want House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to have free rein for her far-left policies.

But in the presidential election, which Joe Biden won by the narrowest of margins over President Donald Trump, I think that the voters said that they don’t want far-right fanatics running the country either.

We used to be a country whose politics were generally divided by liberal or conservative leanings. Somewhere over the past several years, that has changed.; we’re now being led by radicals and reactionaries.

Not good. Not good at all! Fanatics are wrong — and they’re always wrong because the truth is somewhere in the middle.

It’s my thought that the results of this year’s historic elections show that people are starting to get tired of the tail wagging the dog, and that they are starting to move toward the middle again.

The only thing in Brooks’ op-ed that I agreed with was his last sentence; in it, Brooks declared: “We have to live with one another.”

That’s an opinion that I can easily support.

David Duffin, Hilton Head

On Preach Jacobs

I felt disappointment after reading Preach Jacobs’ recent op-ed piece on the Senate race in South Carolina.

Jacobs is understandably disappointed that his preferred candidate, Jaime Harrison, was unsuccessful in his bid to unseat Sen. Lindsey Graham. However, Jacobs’ claim that South Carolina is “clinging to the past” simply does not hold water.

Perhaps Jacobs holds the same opinion as President-elect Joe Biden, who seems to believe that if a Black person votes for a Republican, that individual is simply not Black. I would encourage Jacobs to look at BOTH of South Carolina’s senators: Sen. Tim Scott, who is Black, was elected by a broad swath of South Carolina voters — and he managed to do so without millions of dollars from out-of-state donors.

Scott is doing an excellent job for the residents of South Carolina, and I pray that he will continue to represent us for many years to come.

I do not believe that Harrison lost his bid because of his race.

I believe that Harrison lost because South Carolina is a politically conservative state and he was aligned with a party that has veered left — and has left behind those who are middle-of-the-roaders.

Susan Dickson, St. Helena Island

On Black voters

Tired of hearing “Black Lives Matter”?

Well, consider this: Apparently “Black Votes Matter.”

Bill Smith, Sun City

On wearing masks

I was horrified to see in recent edition of The Island Packet a photo of the protest in Beaufort concerning the renewal of mask-wearing mandates.

In the photo one woman was holding up a sign decrying masks as some “new symbol of tyranny.”

What rocks do these people live under?

Are they unaware that COVID-19 is on a dangerous uptick worldwide?

Are they unaware that we currently have only social distancing, hand washing and mask wearing to prevent COVID-19’s spread and to save the lives of others?

Are they unaware that epidemiologists still don’t know what COVID-19’s long-term effects may be?

Mask wearing is a public health measure that shows we care about the lives of others more than our own personal comfort; it assuredly is not tyranny.

What is tyranny is ignorance. And unfortunately in this case, ignorance can kill.

Jane Calkins, Hilton Head Island

On the media

Congratulations to the national media: you finally took down President Donald Trump.

And it only cost you your integrity.

Blair Lee, Hilton Head

On white SC voters

Sadly the majority of white South Carolinians continue to vote against their best interests.

I am a proud native of South Carolina, and the values of equality, empathy and compassion for others were forged within me from early childhood.

These core values have continued to guide me since I left South Carolina more than 25 years ago.

I left South Carolina for two reasons:

▪ I fell in love with Colorado.

▪ I was alarmed by the growing trend of South Carolina’s white citizens voting against their own best interests.

This trend continues today, and here are some of the things that it has led to:

▪ South Carolina ranked in the bottom 10 in U.S. News & World Report’s 2019 “Best State” rankings.

▪ South Carolina ranks among the lowest states in education and income, according to a WalletHub.com study.

▪ South Carolina is one of America’s poorest states, according to a Friends Committee on National Legislation study.

▪ South Carolina’s communities have seen an explosion of payday lending and title loan establishments.

All of these poor rankings and negative developments are because South Carolina’s Republican Party has exploited the insecurities and fears that many white South Carolinians have long had about race.

There is greater power in greater diversity because none of us alone is as smart as all of us together.

White South Carolinians must stop taking the Republican Party’s bait on race — and start voting for what’s in the best interests of themselves and their families.

Randall Spires, Greenwood. Colo.

Spires is a native of Cayce. His father, Lowell “Butch” Spires,was a longtime member of Lexington County Council.

This story was originally published November 9, 2020 at 4:47 PM.