With transgender bill, legislators promote ‘agenda of fear and insanity’ | Opinion

Transgender insanity

Your headline of March 5, 2023, reminds me of the 70s poster “What if they held a war and no one showed up?” This issue should not concern the legislature.

This action is insane, but legislators are willing to do it, to promote an agenda of fear and insanity.

An insanity that crucified a good man because he upset the power struggle. An insanity that argued black people were happy as slaves. An insanity that argued marital rape was a good thing. An insanity that justified the deaths of thousands of homosexuals by saying it was “God’s will.” An insanity which insists insurrection and murder are acceptable. In Kentucky, an insanity aimed at the regulation of a child’s mind.

Republicans peddle fear and hate of humanity. They are happy to hide their hate behind a cloak of hypocrisy, bigotry, and ignorance. They champion their cause saying, “God is on their side.” I wonder whose God. No deity I know promotes fear and evil, or the persecution of children.

Damian Beach, Frankfort

Education complaints

I totally support a complaint system allowing parents to lodge complaints with the board of education even though my children are now adult professionals. Yes, I would love to have complained about all of the following: misleading and untruthful discussions of the Civil War; glossing over the horrors of slavery; discrimination against Jews, Asians and other minorities; glorification of all wars and refusal to acknowledge the inherent brutality committed by our forces; glossing over the fact that the Founders were largely slave holders; the elevation of the vicious greedy capitalists while failing to discuss how they treated the working classes like dogs; stereotypical depictions of women and men; lack of honest labor history; and in short, glorifying a world that never existed and should not ever exist.

Sally Wasielewski, Lexington

Liberal infestation

The hard left has infested Hollywood, TV advertising, colleges and now even growing disgraceful portions of military. They bombard Americans with certain buzzwords intended to impart a message of guilt and destroy what’s left of common sense.

These buzzwords need explaining as they can be ever so subtly delivered that no one really knows what they mean to the lefties. So here we go:

“Diversity” means everyone except straight white males.

“Inclusion” means everyone except straight white males.

“Equality” means communism where the left wants us to be the same but some will be more “equal” than others (meaning the ruling elite must run the show and keep the rest of us equally powerless and poor).

They are here gang and growing each day with disgusting nonsense such as above.

Wayne Burns, Lexington

Culture wars

It’s time for the media, citizens and voters to stop calling it “culture wars” instead of “disinformation intentionally channeled into laws by the Republican Party” — it’s nothing but autocratic authoritarianism.

When twice-impeached, seditious insurgency director, former President Donald Trump, recently declared, “I am your warrior... I am your justice... I am your retribution,” it’s reminiscent of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini saying, “I am your avenger.”

The GOP (including Kentucky’s gerrymandered, totalitarian state legislature) is afraid of losing a historical role/rule as white male owners of property, money and power as the U.S. demographically becomes the strong diverse authentic democracy it is supposed to be.

Instead of recognizing human beings as humans, the current Republican Party uses impoverishment, sexism, racism, ageism (seniors and young persons), and nationalism (especially theocratic Christian nationalism) to hold on to its white male rule.

The Fox News propaganda channel serves as the GOP’s state medium (attended by 40 percent of Republicans for “news”) along with other extremist “asocial” media, also used by Russia, China, Iran, other U.S. adversaries.

It’s going to take the 60-70 percent majority of the U.S. to actively communicate, organize, and vote to keep our democracy.

Ramona Rush, Lexington

Profitable lies

I’ve been a registered Democrat for five decades. I do though have Republican friends that I admire and respect much to the chagrin of some of my Democratic friends and I also occasionally watch Fox News. Chided by some of my left leaning friends, my simple reply: in order to have a productive and rational conversation with those on the right, I truly need to know what sustains their point of view.

After hearing and reading the Dominion lawsuit transcripts though, I’m truly flummoxed why anyone would continue to trust a single word from Fox. Rupert Murdoch, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingram, Tucker Carlson and Maria Bartiromo have all admitted under oath, they knew the election fraud they had peddled for months, was simply not true. When Murdoch was asked why his network continued to broadcast their false claims, he bluntly replied “for the green”.

To my Republican friends and acquaintances, one question for you: after Sunday church services and enjoying family dinner, will you continue to hold your heart-felt family values or will you look into the eyes of your children and grandchildren and tell them, it’s perfectly fine to lie as long as you are making money.

Cindy Sutton Hargett, Lexington

McConnell’s legacy

U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is a “swamp Rat” extraordinaire, and we’re stuck with this poltroon until 2027. My God, what will he do next to hurt the average Kentucky family and America?

Much of the difficulties (inflation, high energy costs, crime and China’s influence in our country) we face stem from his lack of leadership and failed compromises. He prides himself as a great parliamentarian but is nothing more than a D.C. insider working for donors, lobbyists and internationalists. Most of the “BIG Government” boondoggle legislation enacted by President Joe Biden had the blessings and support of McConnell. The Infrastructure (global climate aid) bill, the Chips (tech payoff) bill, the Anti-Inflation (ha ha) package with 87,000 new IRS agents all bear his mark of approval. All were unnecessary and do nothing for energy production, crime prevention, the illegal invasion, or relief for the American people, nor for Kentuckians.

He and his “gang of 19” minions have spurred impetus for wider government waste and more national hardships. He prides himself on being the new Henry Clay but he’s more like Andrew Dice Clay - abrasive!

Shakespeare pegged such a character in Sonnet #29 writing, “When in disgrace with fortune and Men’s eyes, I all alone beweep my outcast state”. He’s pathetic!

Robert Adams, Lexington

Handling truth

What’s the matter with Florida? The answer is Gov Ron DeSantis and those Floridians who elected him governor.

Any politician who denounces the teaching of Black History in our public schools is totally unfit to hold any political office from the lowest to the highest, even President. How can such a person as DeSantis graduate from an Ivy League University and not know the importance of teaching and learning Black History?

Today, without feeling guilty, I believe our nation’s white children can handle the truth about America’s unsavory racial history (slavery, Civil War, reconstruction, Jim Crow, civil rights). They will make the country better, or more just, because they learned the truth (History).

If Gov. DeSantis runs for President in 2024, he must begin to show the American people the better angels of his nature. So far, he hasn’t.

Paul L. Whiteley Sr., Louisville

Pollution solutions

It is impossible to drive through Lexington and not be gagged by emissions pouring out of trucks, cars, and buses. It’s a troubling and disgusting experience. Black smoke and noxious odors are a regularity here.

Kentucky has the highest rates of cancer in the United States and yet the Commonwealth does absolutely nothing about safety and emissions checks on motor vehicles. Why? Why has it been ignored? Do Kentuckians somehow believe they are not entitled to clean air? Are elected representatives too busy to face an obvious and assaultive problem?

An important question for Mayor Linda Gorton and the Lexington Fayette Urban County Government is this: What are you going to do about this problem? Ignoring it is tantamount to willfully exposing your constituents to serious health risks.

Let’s begin the work required to move Kentucky out of first place in cancer rates. Create an annual safety and emissions check requirement on all motor vehicles - the sooner the better.

Ignoring the problem will not make it go away. Lexington residents are losing patience with inaction on this by our leaders.

Linda Connolly, Lexington

Entitlement programs

The word “entitlement” has been used in a negative way for so long by right-wing politicians that some of us have forgotten what the word means.

In the March 5 issue, a reader said politicians should stop calling Social Security and Medicare “entitlements.” People pay into them and expect to get the benefits when they retire. Actually, that’s what an entitlement is. We are entitled to Social Security and Medicare because they are universal. We pay for them, and we get them. Means-tested welfare programs such as food stamps (SNAP) and public housing vouchers are not entitlements. You must qualify for them based on your circumstances. Social Security and Medicare are the only true entitlement programs.

Politicians should stop talking about entitlements as if they are a bad thing. For that matter, they should also stop talking about welfare programs as if they are bad. It is good that societies provide help for those who need it. It is immoral to make scapegoats of the disadvantaged and those with disabilities.

And, no, that isn’t where all our money is going. Welfare programs, excluding means-tested health care programs such as Medicaid, make up only about 12 percent of the budget.

Randy Patrick, Winchester

Prather alternative

For years I’ve been encouraged and enlightened by Pastor Paul Prather’s Sunday columns. And yet, more recently they reveal some disturbing elements. Prather seems obsessed with his own personal life experiences, especially his ‘reaching old age’; like an oracle dispensing the wisdom of the aged. As one who was in college while Pastor Paul was in a diaper I’m rolling in laughter. More serious is his evolution into a ‘Que Sera’ somnolence; “We’re all flawed. We’re probably wrong. God loves us all. Find your inner peace”.

Unfortunately, this doesn’t do much for all of us who need moral direction as well as spiritual and psychological guidance. In this vein our religious leaders seem to be lacking in speaking to very real threats, including threats to free expression of religious beliefs!

Why our churches seem hesitant to recognize and combat earthly sin and evil should trouble us, whether we’re in a pew or not. For over a year I have implored the Herald-Leader to supplement Prather’s writing with that of others. How about it?

Ernest Henninger, Harrodsburg

Compiled by Liz Carey