While I don't agree with Senator Graham on many things, he was a frequent visitor when I was deployed to Afghanistan and knows how to get the ground truth. I coordinated many of those visits.
Thanks for the comment. I agree that divisiveness has been a real problem in politics. I find myself looking at a variety of primary candidates that I know personally and see that those that are receiving the most institutional endorsements are those that won't put the voters first. It's unfortunate. I'm hopeful that the recent campaign finance reforms will help a bit, as would any kind of open primary or ranked choice voting. But, at the end of the day, we do have to rely on the character of the politician involved. I try to look for experiences that tell me that they've had to work with people with different opinions - military, certain types of businesses, local government, etc.
Thank you for calling to attention that there are different ways of seeing things. Very few, if any, issues are clearly one way or the other. I live in Linn County. I totally agree with your sentiment that: "...contrary to the representations from extremists from the left and the right, good governance can harmonize those interests." ....How do we get there?
Over the past several years, it seems to me that divisiveness in politics has increased- aided and abetted by media of all kinds.... yes, even NPR, my former go-to station- has sadly joined in the fray.... I can hardly listen to it any more, and am one of those thankful to Uri Berliner for bringing his (and my) concerns to light. (Too bad that, like petulant children, they did not take well to his critique...)
I have little faith in politcians -left or right. Those in politics who truly examine the issues, ask difficult questions and consider nuance, get shouted down by one side or the other or both. They get berated in the media. They are isolated. They are the ones I seek out now. (By the way, I voted for you, appreciated your representation of us, and felt you really tried hard to hear all sides of issues.)
I've come to believe that the only way to overcome this division, is for we-the-people to work to bridge the divide, beginning in our own communities. To stop buying into "taking sides". There is no way that I can vote for either Biden or Trump this fall. How can any healing come to our planet and it's people under the leadership of either of these divisive and manipulative men? I used to think that I should vote for "the lesser of two evils." But I can no longer do that. ... and in this case, who would that be anyway? I must vote my conscience. Again, from your piece: "Do we really need another politician (Biden or Trump) who believes that the voters are suckers to be manipulated? " ;)
... which brings me to the next section of your letter...
What really hit me as you lambasted JD Vance (I have no opinion on him as I have not examined his views enough) and then gave your take on Russia/Ukraine was this line. "You can’t negotiate with a liar." I would point out that the US gov't has, in my lifetime, (I came of age during Vietnam) been one of the biggest liars I know. We have a very long history of it... How many treaties were broken with the Native Americans? Not that other countries do not have their own histories... but we MUST encourage a negotiation for peace!!! How many more have to die?!? How many more have to suffer war crimes ... from BOTH sides? How much more land has to be reduced to ruins... killing vegetation and wildlife, polluting soil and water? Do you really think that Ukraine can "win"? What does that even mean any more? They have already lost too much...
I know that you have spent 27 years in the military in service to our country. I hope you will take the time to read this article-especially the last section: "Pumping money into the war machine" Hedges has been war correspondent in multiple horrible conflicts. It's a year old, but still holds true.... are we headed the way of the Roman Empire?
Marty, I so appreciate your steadfastness and logical thinking. Yes, we Oregonians need to work through our differences to find fairness. Keeping the pioneering spirit alive uplifts our attitudes to seek together. I favor sending in teams of negotiators and looking for consensus rather than using arms to obliterate those in conflict. I mean this figuratively as well as physically. Keep up your excellent work
your dismay in the face of never ending war and the tentacular reach of the military industrial complex is shared by many of us citizens of empire. However in regards to JD Vance and Chris Hedges views, there is one important key aspect regarding our involvement opposing Russia’s aggression. Russia, the US and Great Britain signed a non proliferation treaty with Ukraine in 1994. Ukraine, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, remained in possession of 1/3 of the weapons of mass destruction ( nukes .)
Those were transferred back to Russia in exchange for a promise:
After its dissolution in 1991, Ukraine became the third largest nuclear power in the world and held about one third of the former Soviet nuclear weapons, delivery system, and significant knowledge of its design and production.[2] Ukraine inherited about 130 UR-100N intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) with six warheads each, 46 RT-23 Molodets ICBMs with ten warheads apiece, as well as 33 heavy bombers, totaling approximately 1,700 nuclear warheads remained on Ukrainian territory.[3]
While all these weapons were located on Ukrainian territory, Russia controlled the launch sequence and maintained operational control of the nuclear warheads and its weapons system.[4] In 1994, Ukraine agreed to transfer these weapons to Russia and became a party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, in exchange for assurances from Russia, the United States and United Kingdom to respect the Ukrainian independence and sovereignty in the existing borders.[5][6] The decision by Ukraine to give up the nuclear weapons was debated when Russia, one of the parties of the agreement, invaded Ukraine.
Are you suggesting that once again the US, Great Britain sign treaties, make assurances and show no moral spine to live by honoring our promise?
Having lived in rural, suburban and urban neighborhoods, I think I understand what I'll call "rural frustration." When I lived in the Angeles National Forest, I paid a "sewer fee" on my property taxes. There was no sewer service available to my home or my neighbors, yet we subsidized the sewer service for urban dwellers in Los Angeles County. That kind of pissed me off. Another example is government and utility service and response. I now live in an urban environment. When a utility is down or going to be offline, I often get a text alerting me to the situation and its expected resolution. Typically, the service is not down for long, and often followed up with a courtesy "service is restored" text. The whole process feels service oriented and customer friendly. In contrast, in my rural experience, when outages occurred, they came mostly out of the blue. As a rural consumer, I often reported outages, made follow-up calls, and it was not uncommon for services outages to last a week or longer. And, of course, there was never any follow-up from a utility company or government agency. It's not hard to understand how this kind of second or third class citizen treatment can make rural dwellers feel left out, not heard, and create authority animosity.
Regarding JD Vance, he seems to be traveling the Rudy Giuliani road, who was once revered as "America's Mayor," and is now a meme and late night TV joke. Vance, wrote one good book, Hillbilly Elegy, and then turned into a MAGAverse star. He can't go away soon enough.
Coincidentally, this article came out today - https://www.politico.com/news/2024/04/21/graham-slams-vance-ukraine-math-00153519
While I don't agree with Senator Graham on many things, he was a frequent visitor when I was deployed to Afghanistan and knows how to get the ground truth. I coordinated many of those visits.
Thanks for the comment. I agree that divisiveness has been a real problem in politics. I find myself looking at a variety of primary candidates that I know personally and see that those that are receiving the most institutional endorsements are those that won't put the voters first. It's unfortunate. I'm hopeful that the recent campaign finance reforms will help a bit, as would any kind of open primary or ranked choice voting. But, at the end of the day, we do have to rely on the character of the politician involved. I try to look for experiences that tell me that they've had to work with people with different opinions - military, certain types of businesses, local government, etc.
Thank you for calling to attention that there are different ways of seeing things. Very few, if any, issues are clearly one way or the other. I live in Linn County. I totally agree with your sentiment that: "...contrary to the representations from extremists from the left and the right, good governance can harmonize those interests." ....How do we get there?
Over the past several years, it seems to me that divisiveness in politics has increased- aided and abetted by media of all kinds.... yes, even NPR, my former go-to station- has sadly joined in the fray.... I can hardly listen to it any more, and am one of those thankful to Uri Berliner for bringing his (and my) concerns to light. (Too bad that, like petulant children, they did not take well to his critique...)
I have little faith in politcians -left or right. Those in politics who truly examine the issues, ask difficult questions and consider nuance, get shouted down by one side or the other or both. They get berated in the media. They are isolated. They are the ones I seek out now. (By the way, I voted for you, appreciated your representation of us, and felt you really tried hard to hear all sides of issues.)
I've come to believe that the only way to overcome this division, is for we-the-people to work to bridge the divide, beginning in our own communities. To stop buying into "taking sides". There is no way that I can vote for either Biden or Trump this fall. How can any healing come to our planet and it's people under the leadership of either of these divisive and manipulative men? I used to think that I should vote for "the lesser of two evils." But I can no longer do that. ... and in this case, who would that be anyway? I must vote my conscience. Again, from your piece: "Do we really need another politician (Biden or Trump) who believes that the voters are suckers to be manipulated? " ;)
... which brings me to the next section of your letter...
What really hit me as you lambasted JD Vance (I have no opinion on him as I have not examined his views enough) and then gave your take on Russia/Ukraine was this line. "You can’t negotiate with a liar." I would point out that the US gov't has, in my lifetime, (I came of age during Vietnam) been one of the biggest liars I know. We have a very long history of it... How many treaties were broken with the Native Americans? Not that other countries do not have their own histories... but we MUST encourage a negotiation for peace!!! How many more have to die?!? How many more have to suffer war crimes ... from BOTH sides? How much more land has to be reduced to ruins... killing vegetation and wildlife, polluting soil and water? Do you really think that Ukraine can "win"? What does that even mean any more? They have already lost too much...
I know that you have spent 27 years in the military in service to our country. I hope you will take the time to read this article-especially the last section: "Pumping money into the war machine" Hedges has been war correspondent in multiple horrible conflicts. It's a year old, but still holds true.... are we headed the way of the Roman Empire?
https://consortiumnews.com/2023/01/30/chris-hedges-ukraine-the-war-that-went-wrong/
Marty, I so appreciate your steadfastness and logical thinking. Yes, we Oregonians need to work through our differences to find fairness. Keeping the pioneering spirit alive uplifts our attitudes to seek together. I favor sending in teams of negotiators and looking for consensus rather than using arms to obliterate those in conflict. I mean this figuratively as well as physically. Keep up your excellent work
Hi Grace,
your dismay in the face of never ending war and the tentacular reach of the military industrial complex is shared by many of us citizens of empire. However in regards to JD Vance and Chris Hedges views, there is one important key aspect regarding our involvement opposing Russia’s aggression. Russia, the US and Great Britain signed a non proliferation treaty with Ukraine in 1994. Ukraine, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, remained in possession of 1/3 of the weapons of mass destruction ( nukes .)
Those were transferred back to Russia in exchange for a promise:
After its dissolution in 1991, Ukraine became the third largest nuclear power in the world and held about one third of the former Soviet nuclear weapons, delivery system, and significant knowledge of its design and production.[2] Ukraine inherited about 130 UR-100N intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) with six warheads each, 46 RT-23 Molodets ICBMs with ten warheads apiece, as well as 33 heavy bombers, totaling approximately 1,700 nuclear warheads remained on Ukrainian territory.[3]
While all these weapons were located on Ukrainian territory, Russia controlled the launch sequence and maintained operational control of the nuclear warheads and its weapons system.[4] In 1994, Ukraine agreed to transfer these weapons to Russia and became a party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, in exchange for assurances from Russia, the United States and United Kingdom to respect the Ukrainian independence and sovereignty in the existing borders.[5][6] The decision by Ukraine to give up the nuclear weapons was debated when Russia, one of the parties of the agreement, invaded Ukraine.
Are you suggesting that once again the US, Great Britain sign treaties, make assurances and show no moral spine to live by honoring our promise?
Having lived in rural, suburban and urban neighborhoods, I think I understand what I'll call "rural frustration." When I lived in the Angeles National Forest, I paid a "sewer fee" on my property taxes. There was no sewer service available to my home or my neighbors, yet we subsidized the sewer service for urban dwellers in Los Angeles County. That kind of pissed me off. Another example is government and utility service and response. I now live in an urban environment. When a utility is down or going to be offline, I often get a text alerting me to the situation and its expected resolution. Typically, the service is not down for long, and often followed up with a courtesy "service is restored" text. The whole process feels service oriented and customer friendly. In contrast, in my rural experience, when outages occurred, they came mostly out of the blue. As a rural consumer, I often reported outages, made follow-up calls, and it was not uncommon for services outages to last a week or longer. And, of course, there was never any follow-up from a utility company or government agency. It's not hard to understand how this kind of second or third class citizen treatment can make rural dwellers feel left out, not heard, and create authority animosity.
Regarding JD Vance, he seems to be traveling the Rudy Giuliani road, who was once revered as "America's Mayor," and is now a meme and late night TV joke. Vance, wrote one good book, Hillbilly Elegy, and then turned into a MAGAverse star. He can't go away soon enough.