If indeed it’s true that people get the political leadership which they deserve, then both we and our leaders are truly in a sorry state. Is it possibly the case that Donald Trump, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer somehow represent the tenor of the American people? I shudder to think so.
Nancy Pelosi, who seems to govern her party with an iron fist, judges that a physical barrier on the Southern border is “immoral.” Unless a wall exists to imprison people unjustly, by what standard is it ever immoral? She doesn’t say, nor does anyone demand that she explain her ethos. By that same ethos, she judges that the unrestricted abortion of the unborn is indeed moral, despite the fact that her church leaders roundly condemn the practice as immoral. What is this moral standard which she imposes on the rest of us, and why does no one in the media or in either of the two major parties demand that this single representative from one California district explain her intransigence on “the wall” and her stubbornness on unrestricted abortion rights?
Despite our national sins, surely we in the heartland don’t deserve this kind of leadership.
Gary Lindley
Lookout Mountain, Ga.
Rethink your wall support, evangelicals
In the 2016 presidential elections, 81 percent of evangelical Christians voted for Mr. Trump. Many are still supporting his push to build a border wall between Mexico and the United States.
In the Book of Joshua, chapter 6, the Israelites (who were immigrants) finally enter the Promise Land by crossing the Jordan River at Gilgal. The first city they encounter is Jericho. The people of Jericho were not hospitable towards the Israelites. In fact, they feared them. They shut all the gates and drawbridges of their walled city, thinking they could keep the Israelites, and their God, out. Joshua ordered his priests to march the Arc of the Covenant around the walled city for six days while blowing their horns, while the Israelites followed in silence. The seventh day, the Israelites added loud shouting to the sound of the horns, and the walls of Jericho fell flat, and Jericho was annihilated.
Irrespective of how you read the Bible, the lesson is literally and figuratively that fear and exclusion of others is not godly, nor is it good. It will lead to destruction. Evangelicals, think again.
Thomas F. Phelps, M.D.
Sewanee
Why doesn’t Trump pay for his wall?
Trump promised during his campaign that Mexico was going to pay for “his” wall.
The taxpayers have spent billions on border security in the past and Congress passed $1.3 billion this time of which Trump turned down. Now many are suffering through Trump’s shutdown because he didn’t get the wall that was to be paid for by Mexico.
If he was that passionate about “his” wall, you would think he would kick in some of his billions he brags about to get it started.
He and Mitch McConnell in the Senate seem to be satisfied about this shutdown and let the country suffer for it.
Jack Pine
Dunlap