My gosh, do young voters, 18 to 34 years old, know what a democracy is? I am a 75-year-old Vietnam War vet and let me explain. It’s a cherished form of government that recognizes that everyone is equal and no one is above the law. That form of government is in peril because of power-hungry politicians; politicians who put their own fortunes ahead of this country’s. The turnout of young voters on Tuesday was abysmal! The lack of a sizable turnout from that group shames me and scares me.
It was my generation that questioned the status quo back in the day; it was my generation that furthered racial equality and women’s rights and recognized people who are LGBTQ. And we protested against an unjust war: Vietnam. We did all of this while preserving democracy. Saving democracy wasn’t even a second thought.
My generation did that much. Now it’s the younger generations’ turn. Get out and vote. Vote in honor of our efforts. It’s the world that you have to live in. (I won’t be around much longer.)
As singer-songwriter Graham Nash once said, “We can change the world, rearrange the world.” That’s our anthem. Make it yours.
— Steve McCoy, Lincolnshire
A Republican voter in Chicago
I voted. Well, I went to vote anyway. President Joe Biden says we must vote and protect our democracy. Except it doesn’t really exist in Democrat-led Chicago for an old Republican.
Illinois is one of the most gerrymandered states, thanks to our governor and the entrenched Democratic lawmakers in Springfield.
I voted for Donald Trump. He is the only Republican presidential candidate on the ballot who hasn’t dropped out. And that goes for his delegates. Then there were Republicans for the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District. Vote for three, and there were only three. And they will lose to the three Democrats in the general election.
The one place on the ballot where expertise really counts, and it will be 100% selected by politics. Ahh, state’s attorney. Again, only one name for the Republican primary. Fill in the circle anyway. Everything else was no candidate.
Then on the back of the ballot was the ballot question about “Bring Chicago Home,” a progressive tactic to give something a name that sounds nice instead of calling it what it is. It’s a tax increase about sticking it to the rich or maybe middle-class business people trying to buy or sell some commercial property worth more than $1 million.
When will these progressive politicians learn that our problems don’t need more taxes but less spending? This tax would just drive away businesses and wealthier people and the jobs they produce.
I saw online before I went to vote that the mayor’s buddy, the Chicago Teachers Union, was taking our kids out of class to go vote.
Yes, Biden is for democracy. But I see a growing dictatorship of the left. And they wonder why so few people bother to vote. The politicians offer only two choices, bad and worse.
— E.L. Foertsch, Chicago
Medicare at risk from Trump
There’s a major threat to Medicare buried in the laundry list of far-right policies that Donald Trump will use as his playbook if he’s reelected. If Trump wins in November, he’s planning to severely undermine traditional Medicare by making private Medicare Advantage plans the default program for everyone who is newly eligible.
These private plans have great profit outcomes for the insurance companies but terrible health outcomes for the actual patients. Medicare Advantage plans regularly deny coverage for essential treatments and services, forcing patients to forgo the care they need.
Our tax dollars should not be used to pad the pockets of insurance CEOs, especially at the expense of seniors and people with disabilities. But Trump has always prioritized profits over people.
More than 65 million Americans rely on Medicare for their health care, and hundreds of thousands of people become newly eligible each year. Their health and lives are at stake in the November election.
We can’t give Trump the chance to completely privatize Medicare. The message from voters to Trump should be clear: Leave Medicare alone.
— Barbara Friedman, Chicago
My religion and voting choices
How dare Donald Trump tell me how I should vote because of my religion? And are the thousands of Israelis who have been protesting against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his right-wing coalition since long before Oct. 7 anti-Israeli and antisemitic? It’s Netanyahu who seems to have abandoned Jewish values of tikkun olam (“heal the world”).
Doesn’t democracy mean you can disagree with an action a country commits without being against the country itself?
Oh, right. I forgot. Trump doesn’t believe in democracy.
— Joyce Porter, Oak Park
Gun violence, religion in Europe
In a March 17 letter (“John Adams’ religious view“), Larry Craig writes, “Our problems today of gun violence and rampant crime are not due to the ready access to weaponry, but because we are trying to impose a secular value system on a country that was intended for a moral and religious people.”
That is absurd. The numbers say so.
In Europe, which is less religious than the United States, people being mowed down by firearms happens at a rate that, compared to ours, is microscopic. The United States is the only advanced nation in the world where this problem exists.
This is the old “guns don’t kill people, people kill people” dodge. Well, it is a lot harder for people to kill people if they have to do it by hand at close range. It is nearly impossible to kill large numbers of them in that way.
If Craig thinks that it is easier to change hearts and minds than it is to enforce sensible restrictions on firearms (which the numbers from other countries are there to support the practicality of), I suggest that he perform a demonstration project by changing the minds of the MAGA crowd, well, just about anything.
— Curt Fredrikson, Mokena, Illinois
We benefit from unsung heroes
How many outstanding people lie in tombs around the world, but their greatness is known only to a relatively few? That thought came to my mind when I read a recent sports page story (“‘Saved so many careers,’” March 14) about Dr. Frank Jobe who performed the first “Tommy John” surgery on major league pitcher Tommy John in 1974. The breakthrough surgery gave new life to John and to many other pitchers after him, including Shohei Ohtani, currently of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Yes, I had heard of Tommy John surgery, but I never knew the name of the physician who actually did the operation, nor had I ever given any thought whatsoever to this great man.
At the time of John’s surgery, Jobe humbly explained that the procedure was not necessarily based on a new idea, but it was new for the elbow. Since that famous surgical feat, many sports figures have been helped to continue their storied careers. Thankfully, Jobe was honored by the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Legions of other heroes and saints and geniuses and inventors lie forever silent in their final resting places, and we will never know their names or learn about them in our lifetime. Still, we benefit from their brilliance, their long-reaching influence and their invaluable contributions to the world.
We should bow our heads in admiration.
— Kathleen Melia, Niles
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