Your vote has considerable power
You have the power to restore dignity and the rule of law to our government by electing candidates who will ensure that our civil rights and human rights are universally protected. You have the power to revitalize our economy by electing candidates who will reinvest in the small businesses that drive our local markets and the public schools and community colleges that support them. You have the power to help protect our environment from the disastrous effects of global warming by electing candidates who will support clean, renewable energy and protect our public lands and wildlife.
You have the power to elect candidates who will regain the respect of our allies and restore our stature on the world stage. You have the power to change our world for the better. Vote as if your life depends on it. It does.
Jacolyn Marshall
Oro Valley
Advice from a 94-year-old Republican
My 94-year-old, nearly life-long Republican mother not only is repulsed by Donald Trump, but feels that her party has betrayed her and the American people. With her 95th birthday only a few months away, she recently rejoined the Democratic Party and proudly supports their candidate. She and I would like to encourage others to not only vote, but to vote for both honor and decency and elect Joe Biden the next president of the United States.
Randy Spalding
Downtown
Romero should respect Trump
Re: the Oct. 17 article “Mayor Romero to Trump: Your campaign owes Tucson money.”
For Regina Romero to bring up the president owing money to Tucson in an open public letter is shameful, nothing but bias and disrespect. As a native Tucsonan I’m embarrassed of her stance, she did this obviously because she dislikes him.
You know what you owe the president? Respect for the office he holds and an apology.
Maria Orta
West side
Patriotism over allegiance
A recent letter claims Joe Biden caters to haters of America. Why? Because he wants it to be better than it is now and has been in the past?
How is that hateful? The writer cites the Civil War, a war initiated by southerners who wanted to keep slavery as their right. That’s great?
Britain abolished slavery, empirewide, without a single battle, 30 years before the U.S. did. You’re proud that 600,000 died?
You say we elected Obama twice. Who? I doubt you were one of the 51% who did, just as I doubt a single white supremacist supported him, the same people who love Donald Trump, the true hater of democracy.
So get your head out of the sand and admit we can and must do better. We must continually strive to live up to our ideals. That’s love of country, not hate.
True patriotism, not blind allegiance, is what we need and what Biden offers.
Ron Terpening
Northwest side
Climate change more pressing than abortion
I continue to hear about the Evangelical Christian support for President Trump (and the Republican Party) simply due to the position of denying a woman’s right to abortion. Everything I read shows that far more people are dying from the effects of climate change than the number of unborn dying due to abortion. We have a president (and many in his party) who does not believe in climate change and will do nothing to alter the course that could ultimately have catastrophic effects on life as we know it.
He (and many in his party) believes that immediate monetary gain is far more important than planning for a future that has the potential to alleviate the pain and suffering and death of billions of inhabitants on this planet. Maybe an Evangelical Christian can explain to me why it is more important to save the life of an unborn baby than to save the life of our planet.
Kenneth Cohn
Northwest side
The price of fear
in the ‘new world’
I have attributed Trump’s 40%-plus approval rating to racism, lack of knowledge of the issues and avoidance of information that was critical of him, but it’s more. Many people are overwhelmed by the changes in our society (technological, immigration, scientific, educational). These changes have been substantial and rapid.
Many Trump voters want to return to a time when they understood how the world worked. Trump’s rhetoric promises to hold back the flood waters of change. These voters are willing to tolerate violations of norms to achieve a return to simpler times. Trump’s appeal may have more to do with fear than anything else; fear that his supporters may lose what little they have in this “new world.”
Politicians would be wise to acknowledge the discomfort that change brings and also find ways to ease voter concern about what the changes will mean to our future way of life.
Bruno Rescigna
East side
Trump’s pet names irked some
On Oct. 19, Donald Trump held a super-spreader event at our airport and called out to Martha McSally: “Martha, come here, honey.” And then “darling.” I don’t like Martha McSally, but she could have improved her standing in my eyes if she had said: “Mr. President, I’m a United States Senator, a retired Air Force Colonel and a former combat pilot. I’m not your honey!”
Instead, she took it like a puppy hoping to be pet. Arizona deserves better. Women deserve better.
Karen Harbert
East side
COVID-19 is the main reason to dump Trump
El Paso declares a COVID-19 curfew, Spain is instituting a lock down, Italy has reinstated stringent measures. France and Germany too. Yet Trump continues to tour the nation holding nonsocial distancing/maskless events and continues to deny COVID-19 seriousness. No greater comparison is needed to explain why Trump can’t be reelected.
Norman Patten
Midtown
Kelly would be wrong for Arizona
The time for reflection is past. It is now time to decide just what we want for the future of Arizona. Do we relish our freedoms and choices or do we really want to be a blue state attached to a leftward collective controlled by forces outside Arizona? Sen. Martha McSally has repeated the point over and over that Mark Kelly is not good for Arizona.
I agree. I am proud of our individual character and proud that I went to high school, junior college and university all in Arizona. I remember covering the 1964 election returns as a Phoenix College volunteer. Barry Goldwater was our native son.
We were proud. It was a tough fight. It seems alien to contemplate an Senate candidate allied with the same Democratic Party which has destroyed so much of America, seeks the Green New Deal and defunding our police. That is not the Arizona I know, but that is Mark Kelly’s Arizona.
He will sound like a moderate, but his DNA says otherwise.
Tony Whitehorn
Downtown
Unprecedented measure needed
When we wake up on Nov. 4 and find out that, mercifully, the U.S. is getting its sanity back and Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have won through an honest election process, Trump should be removed from office within 48 hours. His advisors and aides can stay 10 days to transition what’s necessary to Biden’s team. Trump is too dangerous, too impetuous and a bad loser to be staying. Who knows what kind of havoc he could wreck? Unprecedented? Yes, but so is ramming a Supreme Court Justice down our throats one week before election day.
Karyn Zoldan
Midtown
Beware
the Cali-zona effect
New residents are moving to Arizona from California and other liberal, Democrat-controlled states to escape the higher taxes, debilitating regulations, housing costs, lack of security for their families … the list goes on.
We should all welcome these new residents because they were intelligent enough to come to a state that has been governed by conservative politics throughout its history. Although many of these new comers cherish their new-found freedoms and security, they just can’t give up their liberal/progressive ways. Arizona is on the verge of having two liberal, Democratic senators who will take this state down the road of liberal/progressive policies from the national level.
Just consider the amount of dark money Mark Kelly has amassed from donors and PACs outside of Arizona. Follow the money folks. Kelly is an outsider who has a very dark side, as reported in the press. Please consider why you chose to leave the Democratically-controlled states. A vote for Martha McSally will balance the scale for Arizona.
Robert Guth
North side
Choice for Senate is abundantly clear
Dear undecided,
Mark Kelly says what he thinks, takes responsibility for his actions and wants to represent us in the Senate. That is no small task. Can you reasonably say the same about his appointed opponent? We need our senator to be our voice in Congress.
Please vote for a reasonable representative for us.
Gini Gethmann
Northeast side
Minority control wrong for America
The ability of a minority of citizens to control our government enshrined in our Constitution has surfaced again in a most serious way. In addition to Donald Trump’s election by a minority of voters and a Senate where each state has two members regardless of population, we now have a second Supreme Court justice installed by a Senate majority (Republican) whose total state population is less than the opposition (Democrats).
The will of the American people has been abrogated once more and this time by lifetime appointments. It’s time for a solution to this undemocratic situation.
John Kuisti
West side
Arizona Historical Society needs your help
Re: the Oct. 24 article “Future uncertain for two local museums after Historical Society votes to pull out.”
Since 2011 I have volunteered one day a week in the library and archive at the Arizona Historical Society . Your recent article about the closing of the society’s satellite museums was worrisome, not just in regards to the museum closures, but about the overall health of the society. The Arizona Historical Society was founded in Tucson in 1884 and until it was absorbed by the state of Arizona, it was Tucson’s local historical institution.
The bulk of the library and archive collection reflects its Tucson/Southern Arizona origins. When they were closed because of the pandemic, our local archivists continued to serve researchers via email, they reorganized collections for better access, and they have been documenting the pandemic for future researchers. Tucsonans can support the society by taking out memberships, purchasing a book, attending a Zoom presentation or by donating. If this isn’t done, we could see the society close and its local archival collections scattered.
Sandy Chan
Midtown
