Bluffton resident proposes that our founding documents resolve today’s culture wars
In America
Women get to have abortions in America.
Gay people get to marry in America.
LGBTQ people get to have all the human rights that all enjoy in America.
Our culture wars are not liberal versus conservative. They are American versus un-American, and were settled at our inception: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of happiness.”
These rights are also clearly delineated in our Constitution, which states its purpose is to: “form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility . . . promote the general Welfare, and secure the blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity.”
These culture war issues were settled in 1776 and a “full stop” was put on that in 1787. All that is left is for us to live up to who we profess to be as Americans.
It’s plain as day in the Constitution, y’all.
Glenn Boylston, Bluffton
Save the butterflies
The Island Packet carried a recent article on the plight of the proposed endangered monarch butterfly with suggestions of how we readers can help. Plant milkweed and quit using pesticides.
There is a dearth of all butterfly species on Hilton Head and the numbers of birds are declining. One of the prime reasons is the random overuse of pesticides that kill beneficial weeds and bugs.
Caterpillars are baby butterflies and moths. Birds eat insects, especially for the fat and protein during nesting season, and bees, wasps and other insects pollinate half the food we eat.
Toxic pesticides wash into nearby fresh and salt water, harming all life there.
Why isn’t anyone asking questions? Making rules? Where’s the City on the issue? Our environmental organizations? You?
Residents can help butterflies by taking charge of your own properties and tolerating the beneficial bugs we depend on.
Tell your landscape company to quit using toxic pesticides. That one action could help save the monarch and all the other missing butterflies. Then buy some neonic-free milkweed seeds or plants.
Debby Boots Hilton Head
No smoking
There is nothing more annoying than sitting at Islanders Beach enjoying the fresh air when someone downwind from you lights up a cigar or cigarette and the smoke engulfs you.
Now that Tybee Island has instituted a no smoking policy on the beaches, isn’t it time Hilton Head follows?
Robert Muniz, Hilton Head
Expand SCOTUS
To protect our reproductive freedoms, we need to expand the Supreme Court.
The Judiciary Act of 2021 would add four new seats to the Supreme Court, bringing the number of justices to 13, helping to restore balance to a court that just dismantled abortion care in America.
I’m urging Congress to pass the Judiciary Act so we can create an institution that moves away from partisan politics and represents the good of all Americans.
Theresa Deery, Bluffton
This story was originally published July 31, 2022 at 6:00 AM.