Letter to the Editor: Let everyone affected in our community have seat at table to make decisions on their behalf

I found Mr. (Chris) Bunch’s interview on Club Muddy very insightful. I, too, would like to see a more bipartisan country where more of the people’s concerns are addressed and everyone works together for the people, not the political party smearing and disagreeing with virtually everything of the opposing party.

Starting in our own community was a wonderful piece of advice by Mrs. (Ashley) Conrad. The independent perspective and the Reagan Democrat terms were wonderful to hear. After all, what many people fail to remember is that Reagan was a Democratic governor of California. Trump donated to Bill Clinton’s campaign fund. If research does me any justice, today’s Democrat philosophy is what the Lincoln GOP stood for, and virtually the party’s stances have changed. I enjoy that Trump is not a career politician and hope and pray that he will get term limits put in place for Congress not to be a career as well. 

One of the sources that I find to be not politicized is the Week News magazine. It gives three perspectives on topics. 

The topics that were brought up that I would like to elaborate on are climate change, abortion and concerns within our community. 

The comment on cow farts on climate change was intriguing. Yes, it sounds like a waste of taxpayer’s money, and it was only a portion of the inflation legislation. However, there are more cows than cars, and cars have been emitting toxins into the ozone. Also, the run time on cars is a fraction of the run time on a cow. Cows emit methane gas, and there are a lot of cows. Climate change is real. 

In my Ed.D. classes, I have the privilege to have an ambassador from a foreign territory who is in charge of climate change. A thawing of the polar ice cap will potentially cause more earthquakes. This is a large concern for us as we are on a major fault line that seems dormant. The wildfires, tsunamis, hurricanes, tornadoes, mudslides and volcanic eruptions are all in line with climate and not a joke like our soon-to-be administration seems to think is a waste of money.

Most of Congress and the U.S. Supreme Court are male. I do not understand how they can vote for what goes on with a woman’s body. I grew up a very stout Catholic and do not agree with abortion in the basic sense.  I encourage you to listen to this: https://freakonomics.com/podcast/abortion-and-crime-revisited/

Our community is where it starts. The country fell drastically into patriotism when Nixon was confirmed to be corrupt, and draft dodging was allowed. We protested Vietnam veterans for doing something they didn’t have a choice to do. This led to a major change in the backbone of our country. 

Many very sustainable countries put their 18-year-olds in the military, Peace Corps or jail to create patriotism and strength within their country. A war veteran in office has traditionally been the best person in office because they have a sense of selfless service and have seen the world as a whole. 

The first thing we need to do is let everyone affected in our community have a seat at the table to make decisions on their behalf. My education is a master’s degree in human resources, and I am most of the way through an educational doctorate in educational leadership, diversity, equity and inclusion. This is a major deterrent by the Republican Party, which is trying to defund all programs affiliated with it. This will lead to many human beings not having a say in what happens to their livelihood. If you want an eye-opening experience in changing the guard in politics, put the Native Americans in charge of their country since we infringed on it in the first place.

I greatly appreciate the mention of the human way of dealing with things and that our country was founded on immigration. It is hard to understand why not help people better themselves by coming to the land of the free. Mexicans do work that many people in this country are not willing to do — and at a lower labor cost. Knapheide has brought many work visas to help sustain its business right here in Quincy. 

Jason Watkins
Owner, Strategic Management Consulting
Quincy, Illinois