Local Dems ready to make lives better
The night before March’s Hamilton County Democratic Party meeting, where we elected a Black woman to chair the party, I was sitting in a bar with a friend discussing how Democrats need to get it together. The people most involved, and most influential, in the party, locally and nationally, are out of touch, content with playing defense, internally divided, and focused on virtue signalling instead of making change (but don’t mistake this for anything other than a critique from the left).
While this meeting confirmed some of that, it also left me with hope. I learned that HCDP has been working to rebuild a relationship with labor. We elected leaders who seem competent, sincere and passionate. We had record-breaking turnout.
So, I have hope for the Democratic Party, at least here in Hamilton County. We’ve got the leadership, we’ve got the momentum. Now we just need to turn that into real progress. We need to stop playing defense, stop living in reaction mode, and get out there and make folks’ lives better. That’s what Democrats are (or should be) all about.
Spencer Pennington
Investing in all kids will benefit all of us
Three Tennessee bills aim to deny children a public school education if they don’t have acceptable legal status. Lawmakers justify the effort by saying costs are too high to teach children English, but these bills are unconstitutional, unjust and shortsighted.
The bills’ sponsors ultimately want to challenge the 1982 Supreme Court decision, Plyler v. Doe, which found that Texas’ attempt to deny immigrant children a public education violated the Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause. The Court explained that “education has a fundamental role in maintaining the fabric of our society” and “provides the basic tools by which individuals might lead economically productive lives to the benefit of us all.” It added that punishing children for their parents’ misconduct “does not comport with fundamental conceptions of justice.”
Plyler v. Doe was a 5-4 decision; the dissenters believed it should be decided in the legislature, but they maintained that “long-range costs of excluding any children from the public schools may well outweigh the costs of educating them.”
The Constitution still safeguards all children’s right to an education. Punishing children for their parents’ actions is still unjust. An investment in all children will still benefit all. Please contact your state representatives.
Annette Allen
No-compassion Dems show lack of heart
Democrats really showed what they were made of during Trump’s address to Congress. They all had paddles with inane slogans, stony faces, and refused to stand or clap – for anything. It’s a given that they hate Trump, no matter what he says or does.
But what kind of person is unwilling to stand, applaud or cheer for D.J. Daniel, a 13-year-old boy with brain cancer? He has had multiple operations, endured much pain and true hardship – far exceeding probably every spoiled-brat legislator in attendance – and has always wanted to be a police officer. Trump made him an honorary member of the Secret Service.
A little hokey, perhaps – but touching and uplifting – except to Democrats. You see, because it was Trump who conferred this kindness on the child, that automatically means Democrats must spurn and despise the boy.
How does anyone become that hard-hearted? If you have a heart with no humanity or compassion in it, do you actually have at heart at all? Democrats clearly demonstrated why the symbol of their party is what it is.
Bingo! Perfect choice.
Tony Scott
Signal Mountain
DOGE not asking the right questions
Consultants who are hired to reduce waste and improve efficiency of a corporation know that they should never ask the individual departments or individuals what they do to justify their role. No, if that is the question, the consultants will be inundated in all sorts of things being done, products and documents being produced, and angels on high singing praise.
Rather, they need to ask, “What will be missing from the corporation if your role/mission/department were to be eliminated?” That’s a strong and strategic question. It forces the department to articulate its value in concrete terms. It asks leadership, “If our department were eliminated, what essential functions, expertise or support would the organization lose?” It’s a different question from “What do you do?”
The key is to prompt a response that highlights not just what the department does, but why it’s indispensable. That’s not the way the DOGE guys are going at it, and it shows their inexperience and their management ignorance.
Everett Kidder
Energy leadership now falling short
The new secretary of energy is quoted in a story headlined, “New energy secretary denies climate change a crisis during Oak Ridge visit” (Times Free Press, March 4, 2025), saying that an intergovernmental climate change report showed economists say climate change is not as important as issues like education, free trade and empowerment.
The most recent report by this group is from 2023, and it says that the climate is heating up and will result in great increases in flooding, drought, severe storm damage and ocean level rise unless humans reduce their carbon footprint.
We may not be in a crisis level now but will soon be if we don’t take action. And while Secretary Chris Wright says that relevant climate activities are continuing, many staff of NOAA are being terminated. How can these climate activities continue without the staff who monitor climate change?
David Thomforde
Athens, Tennessee
Arming Ukraine can only help us
Trump, Vance and the dutiful chorus of affirming yes-men who surround them seem to want Zelenskyy not only to thank the United States for its aid, but also to grovel for further aid.
Consider this: When Ukraine gave up its nuclear weapons, being the third-largest nuclear arsenal at the time, the United States, along with Russia, gave assurances in writing for Ukraine’s future security in exchange for such a transfer. Further, now that Russia has violated that agreement, and every other similar agreement, is not the United States legally and morally obligated to provide security for Ukraine in accord with its earlier agreement to do so?
While it is true that Europe needs to pay its fair share in its own defense, the axis of Russia, China, North Korea and Iran threaten not only Europe but also Western Civilization.
Finally, grasping the larger picture, would Ronald Reagan, and his vice president, George H.W. Bush, have acted so crudely, so arrogantly, so foolishly, with an ally in front of the cameras in the Oval Office as did Trump and Vance? True, during the last days of the Cold War they were dealing with a rational Mikhail Gorbachev, and we are dealing with a Vladimir Putin, but that is all the more reason for statesmanship in perilous times.
Winston Churchill once said that as to the Russians, “there is nothing that they admire as much as strength, and there is nothing for which they have less respect than weakness, especially military weakness.” Arming Ukraine only strengthens our military base, and buys us time in an increasingly dangerous world.
Joesph Settle III
Lookout Mountain, Georgia
Activate Hamilton= exercising control
I wish to congratulate the new wave of GOP Hamilton County leaders led by Gail Green. These new leaders have finally found the courage to come out of their closet and expose the current existing GOP leadership as liberals and progressives. They might as well call them disciples of Satan. During my 40 years of going to the county courthouse, I often wondered why county employees were so polite and professional. Now I know: They were all secretly progressives.
Apparently, many members of Activate Hamilton have also self-identified as being members of Chattanooga Calvary Chapel on Broad Street. If you want to see Project 2025 in action, here it is. Ultra religious groups want to exercise ideological and political control. I read Calvary’s “What We Believe” section, and it appears to be the same old mythology that Christians have been preaching for 2,000 years.
They have been wrong each and every year for the past 2,000 years. They still believe Adam and Eve were created without evolutionary process. It is time for you to get educated. You don’t have to be a scientist to be scientific. There is no heaven. There is no hell. It is wrong to lie to your children. As Gary Behler said, “… moving forward, we’ll see how that activates others.”
Erskine Mabee
We must protect our natural assets
The fight to save endangered species and protect our public lands is intensifying. Those of us who love the grizzlies and the wolves and enjoy recreation on public lands must speak up now.
The House Natural Resources Committee recently held a hearing to lessen the effectiveness, power and the ability of the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act. Committee members want us to believe the erroneous claim that these laws are roadblocks to industry.
Thousands of National Park Service employees have become collateral damage, along with the safety and preservation of our national parks.
Drilling is not acceptable in the parks or on any public land. Our national parks are not to be sold or auctioned off to the highest bidder for some Gaza-like resort area. Our national parks are not to be used to fund Trump’s Sovereign Wealth Fund.
The Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act cannot be weakened or removed completely. On the contrary, they needs to be strengthened.
Kimberly Smith
Ider, Alabama
Town hall needed, but with our residents
Chattanoogans want a public town hall with Rep. Fleischmann. That is certainly a fair request, and I support it – with a condition: Require attendees to show driver’s licenses and/or other documents that prove Fleischmann is your representative.
Do you live within the 3rd Congressional District? How many of those protesters pictured in Miller Plaza actually live in Fleischmann’s district? Critics will as a U.S. representative, Fleischmann votes on issues that “affect all of us.” I agree to some extent, but I suggest you voice your opinion directly to him/her.
I’m all for productive engagement of issues on a respectful level, but shouting down opposing opinions, bullhorns and blocking entrances does not meet that criterion.
Lastly, I would ask that you expand your news sources. News sources have become biased in their reporting. Even our newspaper’s syndicated opinions are not well-balanced among viewpoints. Don’t let only the most vocal influence your decisions. Make an informed decision after careful consideration of all the information, and hopefully you’ll get a chance to ask questions and get answers.
Robert Holmes,
Apison, Tennessee