'Tennessee 3' are unworthy heroes
The three state representatives (Gloria Johnson, Justin Jones and Justin Pearson) have shown this is not about school shootings, guns or safety. It's all about them, their publicity, power and advancement.
If they really cared about school safety, they would have followed decorum and supported or proposed bills to make schools safer and more secure while protecting everyone's rights to protect themselves. Real leaders put forth their ideas for debate. But no, they chose a bullhorn in a vain attempt to re-enact the 1960s movements.
Can anyone even remember the name of the school (The Covenant School) where Nashville's shooting occurred? How about the name of the shooter (Audrey Hale)? Great job, guys. Six people are dead at the hand of a mentally ill person who used a handgun as well as a rifle, and all we know is the Tennessee legislature is racist because it didn't expel the white woman. Great job.
Bill Bastenbeck
Dayton, Tenn.
Demand action on Social Security
I urge everyone to read and reread Times Free Press business contributor Chris Hopkins' well-written and researched article about the impending demise of Social Security. This is not a partisan issue (after all, both D's and R's receive Social Security), and Congress must address this issue immediately. Further delay, as he says, will only compound the problem.
By 2035, there will be only 2.3 workers supporting each retiree. Hopkins' commentary states that "even fully eliminating benefits to new retirees after 2034 would not fix the problem."
What will it take for Congress to understand the urgency of this issue? We as individuals must demand action.
Jo Coke
I am a 'disappointed Tennessean by choice'
In 1996, I moved to Tennessee and was a proud Tennessean by choice. Was? Yes. If only I could understand the mentality of our state elected leaders.
There are some things that cross party lines -- gun violence is high on the list; racial issues too. Women's right to appropriate health care (and more generally health care as a right), quality public education, gerrymandering used not as a political tool but as a way to draw district boundaries based on census results. But today, the effect of the politically applied gerrymandering is on full display.
I am a disappointed Tennessean by choice. The politics of our state legislature are appalling. Not addressing issues, not allowing debate. Legislators act as if they are experts on everything. I have worked around smart people, none of whom claimed to be expert on anything beyond their real training and expertise.
It's our personal responsibility to leave this earth a little better than when we arrived. I was born at the start of World War II, and as an adult I felt that leaving this place in improved circumstance would not be that difficult. I'm beginning to rethink that premise.
Irv Ginsberg