Keep minds open, then cast votes
The last letter I wrote was in response to a letter writer who stated our government was tyrannical.
The writer is obviously not familiar with the U.S. Constitution and our three branches of government, which have served us for more than 230 years. This is typical of the ignorance of the average voter in this country.
The voters have the power to lead our country any direction they desire. Unfortunately, they do not use this power as displayed by the vicious cycle we are going through at present.
The power of the career politicians feeds on the ignorance of the voters.
With very important elections coming up in 2016, we need to open our minds by not voting along party lines, listening only to CNN and Fox News and blowhard talk hosts, but to look at all these avenues and keep an open and intelligent thought process before casting our powerful vote.
Jack Pine, Dunlap, Tenn.
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Greed, opulence GOP downfall
U.S. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, has been in the news a lot lately promoting another book by a Republican warning of impending doom and our country’s demise by ignoring our Constitution.
He laments in a Times Free Press column (April 7) how Congress is remiss in allowing federal agencies and bureaucrats to write policy but conveniently fails to mention laws passed by the same body that were written by lobbyists for corporations and industries to the detriment of people they’re supposed to represent.
To me, this highlights the hypocrisy of Republicans, along with the Indiana governor who reversed his field, first saying the “religious freedom protection law” passed by his state’s legislature wouldn’t be amended, then caving to potential financial boycott, changing said amendment.
So much for standing on principle, until you realize what the principle is.
Didn’t Paul tell us in 1 Timothy 6:10: “For the love of money is the root of all evil”? Yet this love of money is the first and strongest plank in any Republican platform.
Can any Republican out there whitewash or explain it away? Greed and opulence have been the downfall of many a civilization. Why should we be different?
Allen Baggett
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Thanks to CSAS for soldiers salute
Congratulations to CSAS Principal Kelly Coffelt and her staff for helping keep alive the WWII contributions of the Greatest Generation.
As the youngest members of that group are now approaching 90, it is important we never forget what they sacrificed during those years.
There are three distinguished members of the generation who walked the halls of the building the students are in now when it was Chattanooga High School.
Creed Bates, CHS principal for 37 years, took leave during the war to serve in Europe and returned with the rank of colonel. Jack Ryan, class of 1921, served with distinction in Europe and retired as a lieutenant (three-star) general. And Charles Coolidge, class of 1939, was the recipient of the Medal of Honor for his heroic service in France in 1944.
All three of these gentlemen are charter members of the CHS Hall of Fame.
And we must never forget the Dynamos who never came home, the ones who made the ultimate sacrifice in serving their country during the war. We will never forget you.
And on a personal note, we remember my father, William N. Jones Jr., class of 1934 and a captain in George Patton’s Third Army.
Douglas Jones, Ooltewah