16
WEST VALLEY VIEW NEWS | FEBRUARY 23, 2022
For more opinion visit WestValleyView.com WestValleyView.com
/WestValleyView
OUR READERS’ VIEWPOINTS
SMITH’S OPINION — Las Vegas sun
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Watch it Editor: This is my response to Joellyn Schawl’s Feb. 16, 2022, snarky slam of West Valley View columnist J.D. Hayworth and the AZ GOP state Senate, Donald Trump and others who support his America First policies as “Trumpists” or Trump sycophants. She went on to identify other individuals with name-calling and denigration, such as “Barney Fife impersonators,” swamp dwellers, coup planners, and parroters of “the big lie” — whatever you think that is. You said early in your letter to the editor, “… columnist J.D. Hayworth can’t help but give his one-sided, insulting, anti-Democratic opinions every time he grabs his pen.” In today’s world, Joellyn, it is more likely not a pen but a computer that writers grab. But I digress. After reading your letter and all of the vitriol you slung, but accused J.D. of slinging, I thought, “Who couldn’t help but give her one-sided, insulting, anti-conservative opinions?” I must quote Sen. John Kennedy (RLA), who recently said, “If you’re going to be a smart-ass, the first thing you have to be is smart, otherwise you’re just an ass.” Susan Hewitt Goodyear
Annoying noise
Editor: The noise from the constant stream of cement trucks traveling back and forth 24/7 along Camelback Road really needs to stop. It was bad enough during the day, but now the cement dump trucks run all through the middle of the night — even at 3 a.m. How are families living in the surrounding communities close to Camelback Road supposed to sleep with the constant loud, annoying noise from the diesel trucks all night?
When stationed at Luke AFB, there were “quiet hours,” when no engine runs nor F-16s were permitted to fly past 10 p.m. Luke AFB respects the surrounding community, and clearly the cement truck company does not. The cement trucks and dump trucks should be traveling along Northern Parkway. Not in a residential zone in the middle of the night. Jim Bradford Litchfield Park
Saving our way of life
Editor: The fight over Ukraine isn’t about Ukraine. As World War II ended, the United States invited victorious allies to the Bretton Woods Conference to decide what to do after Germany and Japan were defeated. As leaders of the conference and free world, we proposed rebuilding defeated nations, worldwide democracy and U.S. Navy policed freedom of the seas and free trade. Nations that adopted our program prospered; nations that reverted to preWorld War II autocracy stagnated. England and France bankrupted themselves trying to maintain control of recalcitrant colonies that eventually freed themselves from colonization. Extreme repression kept citizens in China under control until 1949 and in the Soviet Union until the Berlin Wall collapsed. College students and middle-class citizens led Arab Spring revolts a few decades later. Television, movies and the internet make it possible for members of a suppressed nation to see how prosperous free nation citizens have become, and this eventually incites unrest and revolt. Unfortunately, almost all such revolutions fail because repressive regimes don’t create a public service culture nor the quality of leaders it takes to govern a modern democracy.
Autocrats are trying to take us back to the bad old days. Anyone with common sense sees that makes no sense given the economically poor and repressed lives citizens of autocratically led nations live. Putin invaded Crimea and eastern Ukraine and now wants it all. On the Asian side of the world, Xi Jinping now controls Hong Kong and wants Taiwan, where most of the computer chips we depend on are made. Neither autocrat will stop if they can pick off smaller nations one at a time. They don’t like organized resistance. Putin hates us for supporting NATO, and Xi hates us for resurrecting an opposing alliance with England, Australia, Japan, India and other threatened nations. Democratically led public health and scientific progress has made it possible for the population of the world to double since 1950, and fewer people live in extreme poverty than before. In reality, we Americans have it pretty darned good. Our world isn’t perfect, but unlike 80 years ago, most of us are now able to pursue our personal, spiritual and vocational dreams, and most Americans now have a place to live with efficient heating and cooling systems, more than
enough to eat, and safe to drink hot and cold water. The good old days autocrats are striving to revive weren’t that good. The current fight is about saving the way of life our version of post-World War II democracy created. That’s why what Putin and Xi are trying to do does concern us here. John Bradley Avondale
How to get a letter published 250 N. Litchfield Road, Ste. 130, Goodyear, AZ 85340 E-mail: editor@westvalleyview.com The West Valley View welcomes letters that express readers’ opinion on current topics. Letters must include the writer’s full name, address (including city) and telephone number. The West Valley View will print the writer’s name and city of residence only. Letters without the requisite identifying information will not be published. Letters are published in the order received, and they are subject to editing. The West Valley View will not publish consumer complaints, form letters, clippings from other publications or poetry. Letters’ authors, not the View, are responsible for the “facts” presented in letters. We will not print personal attacks or hateful language. Lengthy letters will be edited for space and grammar. Please do not submit multiple letters on the same topic.
