This is Viewpoints for Friday, February 9, 2018

A good question and an answer

I was pleased to see Jo Garcia’s letter (“A Question Needs To Be Answered”). It is always better to see someone ask an intelligent question (in this case, why can’t DACA recipients just apply for American citizenship) than some of the more regrettable rhetoric that gets featured in the Opinion page.

To answer the question briefly: Becoming an American citizen requires being a legal permanent resident (“green card” holder) for at least five years. The most common way of obtaining a green card is to be sponsored by a family member who already has citizenship, but most DACA recipients, who are by definition illegal immigrants, do not have family members with citizenship. Furthermore, due to existing limits on legal immigration, getting a green card can take up to 25 years, in some cases.

I hope this goes some way towards answering your question, Jo, and I’m glad you are engaging with this issue.

Military parade? Come on

At President Donald Trump’s urging, the Pentagon is now looking at dates for a possible military parade in Washington, D.C., that could take place in November, a spokesperson confirmed Tuesday.

The Washington Post first reported Tuesday that Trump expressed his desire for a military parade at a Jan. 18 meeting between Trump and top generals, and his desire was heard as a presidential directive. The paper cited two officials briefed on the planning.

I can just see Cadet Bone Spurs saluting them as they march by like North Korea president’s troops do. I thought he would be satisfied after he said he had a bigger nuclear button but I guess that was not enough for him. The military I served in would tell him what he could do with his parade but it couldn’t be printed here.

True answer to youth violence

The first weekend of February 2018 was a deadly one for Macon, as we recorded three homicides. Everyone feels something has to be done to stem the rising tide of violence but no one seems to have an exact plan of action.

I appreciated Bibb County Sheriff David Davis asking the religious community for their input. I guess religion can be involved in government when all else fails. One published suggestion promoted the idea of keeping teenagers and maybe even young adults involved in activities that would help keep them out of trouble. I cannot disagree, maybe that would help, but that is a little like putting a bandage over a wound that really needed stitches.

I will be plain. The main activity that is needed are more efforts to lead these young people to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. Only He can change lives.

Holding out hope

I am looking forward to everyone taking off their tin foil hats. Bush wasn’t as bad as we thought, Obama wasn’t perfect, we’ll never know how good or bad Hillary would have been. What do we know about our present POTUS? So far he has passed a tax plan that really hurt him to the tune of tens of millions of dollars going into his and his families’ pockets. He takes credit for everything good and blames everyone else for anything bad. I am still holding out hope that he will grow into being the president we need. I hope he isn’t the president we deserve.

Wise up

To all writers who feel a need to document your ignorance, please stop. If the basis of your letter is some drivel espoused on liberal news, it is likely fake news anyway. Read someone’s whine about corporate tax cuts and the rich getting richer. I’m ecstatic about the tax cuts. A tax cut might encourage more companies to bring jobs back to the U.S. After Trump was elected, Ford, Dow Chemical, Trans-Lux, Sprint, General Motors, Carrier and IBM decided not to send jobs overseas or just bring some jobs back.

Just think what the tax cut could do. More bonuses were announced, also. Turn off CNN and MSNBC and watch or read some real news. If you refuse to watch real news, please stop writing to the paper displaying your ignorance. Here is a good quote: “Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt.” I’m no fan of Trump’s lies, narcissism, boasting, crudeness, etc.; however, if you read about all the amazing things he is doing to make America great again, maybe you will see past his poor qualities. Reports say over 90 percent of Trump’s media coverage is negative, but I always try to see the positive and Trump’s work is head and shoulders above other presidents in my lifetime. We barely survived Obama, possibly the most incompetent POTUS ever. Trump is many times better at getting things done than Obama. I don’t even want to talk about Crooked Hillary.

Abortion solves nothing

Travis Middleton,

If you are not an adherent to the Gospel, any words of mine are fruitless to you. Abortion is the focus of evil in the modern world; the practice of abortion does violence to the Gospel in that it is contrary to God’s design, which is to effect in man His loving design between husband and wife. For those of us who believe in the Gospel, no action can be justified as being the lesser of two evils, as you suggest. You note several social concerns, however, they cannot be solved through the practice of abortion. Only the message of the Gospel — God’s love — can solve these problems. I would also ask: You note several social problems in your response and you offer abortion as the solution. Did you ever consider that perhaps many of these children who die from abortion could have become doctors, immunologists, architects, scientists and business leaders among others? People in these professions do a great deal to help others. Pope John XXIII noted in the encyclical, Pacem In Terris, that, “true freedom, freedom worthy of the sons of God, is that freedom which most truly safeguards the dignity of the human person.” President Reagan also noted, “there can be not safety — no security — in the appeasement of evil.” Abortion solves nothing, it only hardens man’s heart to perpetrate more evil. As Evangelium Vitae says, “The Gosepl of life is at the heart of Jesus’ message.”

This story was originally published February 9, 2018 at 8:54 AM with the headline "This is Viewpoints for Friday, February 9, 2018."