Believe Donald Trump
Donald Trump has told us who he is. We need to believe him.
He told us he would appoint judges to the Supreme Court who would overturn Roe v. Wade. He did.
He told people to come to Washington, D.C. on Jan. 6, 2021: It “will be wild.” It was.
He said he would weaken the EPA, which protects our water and air, and that he would pull us out of the Paris Climate Accord. He did.
He said he would pull us out of the nuclear agreement with Iran. He did, and Iran is now closer than ever to having nuclear weapon capability.
He told us he would use the government to go after his enemies. He sicced the IRS on James Comey and Andrew McCabe.
Now he wants another term. Would he really leave after that? He has refused to say whether he would accept the results of a free and fair election if he loses. He has promised a bloodbath instead.
If he wins, he will pursue retribution against his “enemies,” enact a nationwide abortion ban, allow states to monitor women’s pregnancies, restrict access to birth control, deport millions of immigrants, weaken NATO, and replace career public servants with political hacks whose only qualification is loyalty to him. He would cut Social Security, Medicare and Obamacare. He would roll back climate measures and reinvest in fossil fuels.
Let’s take him at his word and reject his vision for America.
Suzanne Sperling
Athens
Contraception Is a Personal Choice
We met in 1970 in high school. As of Aug. 21, we will have been married 47 years. They have been good years, and that’s partly because of the advances of modern medicine. Like most families, we’ve survived illnesses and injuries that could have been deadly in an earlier time. These advances in medicine improved our lives, and we’re grateful.
Our ability to control our family size was an important benefit of modern medicine. We wanted to have two children, and that’s what we have: two wonderful daughters, now grown. We were free to choose our family size without the intervention of rules or laws inhibiting this fundamental right.
Believe it or not, there are some who would take us back to the dark ages by outlawing access to birth control. Just last week, the Right to Contraception Act was voted down in the U.S. Senate. This act would ensure the right of individuals to access and use contraceptives and the right of health care professionals to provide contraceptives and contraception information.
Although there were 51 votes in favor, 60 votes were needed to overcome the Republican filibuster. Incredibly, every Republican senator, except for Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, voted against the Right to Contraception Act, denying the need for protection of birth control. Those senators and the Republicans who agree with them need to understand our anger at their attacks on our freedom. We urge you to use your vote this fall to tell them how wrong they are.
Rick and Barbara Burt
Athens
Restore Reproductive Rights
The most consequential decision people make may be to have a child. Responsible parenting requires massive commitments of time and resources to the health and up-bringing of a child. There can be issues concerning whether a pregnancy will occur or if the much-desired pregnancy requires an intervention like in vitro fertilization. Pregnancy places extraordinary demands on a woman’s body, and may require constant weighing of risks to the health and even the life of a woman throughout pregnancy. Pregnancies can result from acts of violence and abuse, like rape and incest. The fetus may show serious abnormalities and not be viable. The pregnancy may end in a miscarriage.
A number of state legislatures have severely limited or prohibited the performance of abortions. The consequences: a 10-year-old raped and unable to get an abortion in her home state; women who have miscarriages accused of having abortions; women forced to wait for life-saving abortions until their lives are deemed adequately at risk for a physician to feel he or she can legally terminate the pregnancy.
Emboldened by these measures, some legislators now oppose IVF and even the use of contraception. There is scant evidence these legislators understand the consequences of their actions. There is abundant evidence that the citizens of such states do, with a Niagara of ballot initiatives passed and pending to restore the right of women and their physicians to make vital personal decisions.
Having legislators who place our lives and well-being at risk is not preordained. We have choices in November. We should make them.
Bruce Menke
Athens
Biden’s Tax Plan Is Better
It is a Republican belief that the best way to serve the public good is to slash taxes and regulations, because that would enable the very wealthy to accumulate capital they would then invest more efficiently in the economy, therefore helping everyone—maybe.
Proponents of the 2017 Trump tax cuts said the cuts would benefit mainly ordinary Americans. Instead, the bill gave those in the top 1% a tax cut more than 50 times higher than the cut that fell to middle-income households. Meanwhile, corporations used their tax savings on stock buybacks, dividends and executive pay. No wage gains trickled down to the bottom 90% of workers.
Our economic growth rate was supposed to double or triple. Instead, our GDP stayed at about the same rate as it had been before the tax cuts. Those behind the 2017 tax bill said it would increase revenues and pay for itself, but revenues fell and the deficit increased.
Trump promises to cut taxes again for the wealthiest among us and institute tariffs, which are essentially taxes levied on imported goods and passed on to the consumer. Abolishing the income tax and replacing it with tariffs would raise taxes for a typical American family by $5,000.
The Biden administration favors a fairer system of increasing taxes on less than 5% of households and on big corporations mostly by tightening tax loopholes. His proposal to restore the child tax credit benefits parents of all income levels.
By not showing preference to the wealthiest of the wealthy, our country can raise enough revenue to fund critical national priorities, like Social Security. By the way, the Heritage Foundation, funded by Koch Industries and the major organization behind Project 2025, has called for raising the retirement age for Social Security benefits to reduce its funding.
So, who would be best at serving the public good?
Shelbey Diamond-Alexander
Chair, Barrow County Democratic Committee
Constituents Pressure Collins on Reproductive Rights
On this second anniversary of the overturning of Roe v. Wade, a group of women from the group Indivisible called on congressman Mike Collins to protect access to reproductive health care, including contraception, in-vitro fertilization and abortion. They made the call in a letter presented to his office in Walton County and in a series of recent demonstrations in Danielsville, Watkinsville and Athens.
June 24 is the second anniversary of the Supreme Court decision Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned the Roe v. Wade decision which had been the law of the country for more than 50 years.
The letter to Rep. Collins was signed by a large group of constituents from his 10th Congressional District. Their group, Indivisible Georgia District 10, is one of multiple groups formed in Georgia to increase voter engagement with elected officials.
“We are concerned that decision, and the fall-out from that decision, coupled with Georgia’s six-week abortion ban is causing serious concerns for the health of women in Georgia,” the letter reads.
The letter points out that more than half of Georgia’s counties have no practicing OB-GYN doctors, and in another 15 counties there is only one such doctor. It notes that nearly two-thirds of Georgians surveyed object to the state’s restrictive six-week abortion ban.
The Indivisible Project is a national group whose purpose is to elect progressive leaders and rebuild our democracy. It has more than a million members in Georgia and around the country.
Michael Castengera
Athens
Biden Is Still Best
Joe Biden had a terrible debate night. His voice was hoarse and weak. Many of his answers were halting, garbled, incomplete, hard to follow. He may have been suffering from a cold, but it reinforced the worries that many have about his age and ability to handle the job.
Meanwhile, the shameless, pathological lying of Donald Trump was on full display in virtually every sentence he uttered over 90 minutes. Neither Biden nor Democrats support abortions at nine months. America wasn’t admired around the world when Trump was president. On display was Trump’s utter lack of vision, his ridiculous insistence that he was the best president in history, his refusal to directly answer the questions, and his repugnant hostility toward America.
Whether undecided voters who watched the debate were more alarmed by Biden or more repulsed by Trump, it’s too early to say. Between court proceedings and Trump’s daily need to stoke chaos and fear, undecided voters will have plenty more reasons to turn away from this convicted felon, adjudicated rapist and shameless liar.
As for me, I am voting for the old guy whose fiscal policy has created an economy that is the envy of the world; whose foreign policy promotes democracy, damages our enemies, and strengthens our allies around the world; whose domestic policy actively supports women’s rights and will restore the rights women had under Roe. I’m voting for the old guy who never attempted to overthrow an American election and whose debate performance wasn’t very good.
Peggy Perkins
Winder
Series Features Female Filmmakers
The smash hit Barbie, directed by Greta Gerwig, may lead movie-goers to think that women have reached a new level of parity in the film industry. But in 2023, men had the position of director in 86% of the top 250 films, up from 84% in 2022. Women are also highly under-represented in the other major filmmaking roles of writer, cinematographer, producer, executive producer and composer. This data is from The Celluloid Ceiling Report, which has monitored and reported on movie credits since 1998. Women held one of those significant behind-the-scenes positions in 17% of the top movies in 1998, and by 2023, the amount has only risen to 22%.
This year the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute’s summer film series will show five films directed by women, all of which received critical praise, but had limited theatrical releases. The directors are from Canada, Iran, China and the U.S. We hope that film lovers will join us at Ciné for the Tuesday matinees. Summer in Athens is the perfect time to escape the heat and retreat into the cool darkness of Ciné, to experience new stories together. Tickets are available at Ciné’s box office on the day of the film, or online at athenscine.com.
Kathryn Kyker
Athens
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