Well, the first week of the new term was interesting and frighteningly entertaining, but not terribly productive in any positive way. So far, the efforts and orders have been petty and nonproductive. Maybe next week will be better. I sure hope so.
As a longtime Republican, who is totally a non-Trumpster, I should have expected this. Major issues such as the war in the Ukraine, relations with our longtime allies and neighbors, cancer research and new immigration policies may be in our future, but so far, President Donald Trump has pardoned more than 1,500 people, most of them convicted criminals; offended longtime allies; insulted a bishop who simply told him to be the Christian he professes to be; removed security from those who disagreed with him; and nominated highly unqualified people for Cabinet posts whose primary qualification is loyalty to him.
I served as a CEO in business and local government for decades and learned that having and respecting the opinions of those whose opinions differ from yours is a positive strength, not a negative weakness. Democracy is about people with differing opinions working together to achieve the best solution. It’s exactly the way our Constitution was developed.
Autocracies, such as Adolf Hitler’s Germany, Bashar Assad’s Syria, Benito Mussolini’s Italy, or Vladimir Putin’s Russia, cause tremendous pain and suffering and, eventually, are defeated. Not a good model for the world’s leading democracy to follow.
— Robert B. Hamilton, Wauconda
Ending 14th Amendment
When people realized that the 18th Amendment to the Constitution, which banned alcohol, wasn’t such a good idea, they didn’t get rid of it through a president’s executive order. The required two-thirds of Congress passed and three-quarters of the states ratified the 21st Amendment, which repealed Prohibition.
The 14th Amendment, Section 1, states: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”
President Donald Trump wants this changed. The formal procedure to do this is what was done to repeal Prohibition. Propose a constitutional amendment, pass it and ratify it. We would see if this idea is popular enough to become part of the Constitution — the same process that ended slavery and would be needed to replace the Electoral College system with a national popular vote.
— Kevin Coughlin, Evanston
Illegal immigration in US
Does anybody know — or care — that in other countries, immigrants are often imprisoned for the offense of entering a country illegally?
Does anybody know — or care — that even in progressive countries such as Canada, you will be imprisoned and fined for entering illegally, little different from what happens here?
The story that the U.S. is somehow evil or treats illegal immigration vastly different than all other nations is simply false.
— William Choslovsky, Chicago
Biden and Harris’ failure
For 62 years, Ellis Island was the immigration portal to America, processing an average of 193,500 immigrants annually. Today, our Immigration and Naturalization Service should be reformed. Gaining citizenship could take years. Here is where Joe Biden, Kamala Harris and the Democrats failed.
The Biden administration should have announced that America is not having enough births to keep our population growth sufficient for future needs. The administration also could have announced a huge increase in immigration agents to properly process an influx of immigrants. Guided by the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, the Secure Fence Act of 2006 and Article IV of our Constitution, the border crisis could have been averted.
Instead, Democrats chose to violate our laws for immigration and border protection. The Biden administration made no provisions nationwide for the housing, clothing and education of immigrants. Sanctuary cities were not informed that their cities would be inundated. Monies were diverted to help the migrants. Immigrants living in tents on sidewalks when the wind chill factor is minus-20 is certainly not very welcoming.
America can do better than this immigration crisis. We do need more workers.
If they had acted with America’s best interests in mind, Biden and Harris could have been beginning their second term. They did not choose wisely.
— Joseph A. Murzanski, Orland Park
Mass firing of watchdogs
Last week, amid a flurry of questionable executive actions, President Donald Trump fired 17 inspectors general of various federal agencies.
Why would he fire these people, whose mission is to protect the American people’s interests by monitoring their respective agencies and holding them accountable?
— James Keough, Palos Heights
Independent inspectors
As a purchasing agent or as an individual, I would never buy anything from a company where the quality assurance people reported to the production manager. That’s common sense. The production manager is concerned with getting production out the door, whether it meets the company’s standards or not.
Our president has fired a large number of inspectors general because he wants people in those jobs who make decisions based on his views. I want inspectors general who are independent and are concerned about the safety of what they are evaluating.
— Walter E. Obrien, Dundee
Caught in a fear epidemic
I am afraid; my family, friends and neighbors are afraid; and I expect that many of our country’s citizens are afraid — afraid of the consequences of the many changes that our new administration is suddenly enacting. Certainly, our legal and nonlegal visitors and immigrants are afraid. We are in the middle of a fear epidemic that could spread faster and be more deadly than the current California fires.
I expect that many individuals in the federal administration, including members of Congress, are experiencing fear. They are required to make choices that might be contrary to their judgment and ethics, yet they fear for their jobs and status. This conflict must create fear and negativity that will affect how they make those very important decisions.
This fear epidemic has spread throughout the world. The citizens and leaders of the countries with whom we have yearslong friendly relationships have also caught it. They do not know what to expect from us and how our leaders’ decisions will affect them.
Where is the vaccine for this epidemic? To whom do we look? What can we as individuals do? Hopefully, these answers will be found before we lose our wonderful democracy.
— Richard Hirsch, Lake Forest
Encouraging overreaction
What happened at Hamline Elementary School was not “fear and chaos,” as cited in the Tribune article (Jan. 25), but stupidity and overreaction caused by politicians and activists over purported raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. I would assume that school officials could read the names on a business card and badge that identified the agents as being from the Secret Service. Also, a calm response with some questions would have identified the agents’ purpose as the investigation of a potential threat against a protected individual and not an immigration raid.
Simply, everyone in state, city and local government needs to take a deep breath, calm down and understand how to properly respond to the arrival of any law enforcement agency. And the media should be well advised, too, so that they don’t blow out of proportion a routine law enforcement investigation.
— Robert Stasch, Chicago
Blue cities’ responsibility
The editorial “What will the mayor do if the CTU he used to work for takes to the picket lines? Join them?” (Jan. 26) sketches the portrait of a city in dysfunction. This true-blue city, in a supermajority blue state, with a Democratic governor, should be a showcase of how Democrat-run cities and states can function as fiscally sound, dynamic innovation hubs where diversity is prized and workers are treated well. This would be a powerful counter to the Republican misinformation barrage about Democratic incompetence, such as when the White House accuses California’s Democratic leaders of enabling the horrific fires in Los Angeles.
Democrat-led cities and states need to show how a city can be efficient and still be open and welcoming instead of the “apocalypse” that the Republicans continue to depict.
Chicago and Illinois, and all Democrat-led states and cities, owe it to this country to get themselves working properly so that the MAGA phase remains just that, an ugly chapter in this country’s history.
— Clara Orban, Chicago
Perpetuating tired claim
The 27 Chicago aldermen who petitioned the city’s cultural affairs department and Mayor Brandon Johnson for the removal of the art installation “U.S.-Israel War Machine” at the Chicago Cultural Center, are seriously misguided. As Americans, we cherish the protections enshrined in our founding documents guaranteeing the freedom to express ideas with which some members of our society disagree.
Communist, fascist and theocratic repressive regimes have suppressed and punished dissent by labeling art “degenerate,” “bourgeois,” “decadent,” “blasphemous” and “subversive.”
Criticism of U.S. support for Israeli policy is not inherently antisemitic; the tired claim that it is serves as a tactic to deflect attention from the consequences of those policies.
— Martha Reese, River Forest
Art censors in Chicago
It’s appalling that 27 members of the Chicago City Council demanded censorship of an art exhibit at the Chicago Cultural Center that Ald. Debra Silverstein called “very anti-American, and very antisemitic.” What’s truly anti-American is censorship. What’s truly antisemitic is assuming that all Jews think alike and that all Jews must oppose criticism of an Israeli politician.
Back in 1988, members of the City Council designated themselves the city’s art censors and ordered the confiscation of a painting at the Art Institute, disgracing Chicago as a city of repression.
Today’s art censors are equally wrong. We should all demand the right to view this art for ourselves and decide how we interpret it, without the City Council decreeing what we are allowed to see and think.
— John K. Wilson, Evanston
Exhibit’s obvious agenda
So a divisive art display at the Chicago Cultural Center is the latest example of protected speech. Because one of the alleged culprits is the Israeli prime minister, he isn’t likely to sue for slander.
However, it seems that the anti-Israel viewpoint is glaringly overrepresented in our country. Would the director of cultural events allow a display to highlight the cruelties committed by Hamas on Oct. 7, on Israeli civilians? No pro-Israel artist would wish to; the subject is way too sensitive and by definition very divisive in a city whose Jewish community is outnumbered by Muslims, Arabs and people who wholeheartedly support a one-sided agenda without considering suffering on both sides.
Or, perhaps when art becomes an obvious agenda, it’s time to have a second look.
— Rosalie Lieberman, Chicago
Put children, parents first
Regarding the article “Parents rankled by CPS-CTU bickering” (Jan. 22): It is gut-wrenching to read the concerns of parents of Chicago Public Schools students. I can’t imagine what it would feel like to have a child in a school where I did not feel that the teachers were fully supportive of the success of my child. This is one of the core responsibilities of government.
I believe the rank-and-file Chicago Teachers Union members have been sold a bill of goods by CTU leadership that has led them down a blind alley. It’s time for CTU members to put the children and their parents first.
Being held accountable is a basic part (and necessity) of any job. Putting in the time and effort needed to succeed is critical.
It seems the CTU is more interested in lining teachers’ pockets and minimizing teacher oversight and work rules, at the expense of our kids. This needs to stop.
— Dean Gerber, Chicago
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