This is Viewpoints for Friday, March 4, 2016
Fix Luther Williams instead
We could not agree more with Vivian Whelan's letter in Friday's paper. The current study on a stadium in downtown Macon was a waste of time and taxpayer money. Did these people even look into the recent history of professional baseball in Macon?
We have been baseball fans in Macon since the Redbirds, Pirates, Braves, Peaches and Macon Music. None of these teams were able to consistently fill the seats at Luther Williams Field except for the few times stars like John Smoltz or Pete Rose made rehab or guest appearances. Even giving out free tickets, which was done on numerous occasions, could fill the seats at Luther Williams.
Building another stadium in downtown Macon is a losing proposition. If money like that is going to be spent, spend it on improvements to the existing facility at Luther Williams Field — one of the oldest and most classic ballparks in the United States. How about decent restrooms, adequate concession areas, a new clubhouse for home and visiting teams, and an outfield that is playable after a rain.
We hope this ball field study is not a prelude to another Forest Hill Road project. Have deals been made and money paid without citizens voting in some sort of referendum?
— Seth and Pat Bush
Macon
U.S.A. debt crisis
All of the politicians from Trump and Bernie and others in between have failed miserably in letting America know where we stand financially as a nation. Most of them, including the experts, estimate the United States debt is in excess of $19 trillion. This doesn't mean much to most Americans, but it concerns me very much and I will demonstrate why I'm concerned and why you should be concerned as well. Let's take a look at the facts:
1. The total U.S. population is estimated at approximately 321 million.
2. Of that number, the U.S. Department of Labor estimates the number of workers in this country at 161 million.
3. It would take every worker in this country paying taxes in excess of $117,977 in one year to liquidate the country's debt.
So, ask yourself, where is the money coming from to erase this massive debt? Keep in mind that Social Security, Medicare, etc., alone consumes over 83 percent of the national budget, leaving only 17 percent to run everything else in this country. Now, ask yourself why are you so passionate for your choice of candidate? For me, it's trying to choose the lesser of the evils, but who knows, certainly I don't think I have all the answers, but I do know we have a serious problem.
— John Haugabrook
Warner Robins
The common people
America is only as good as our leaders being the president, Congress and Supreme Court. Our leadership is defined by our great Constitution, written by many great minds working together and not against each other. It's not perfect.
Congress by failing to work with the president of United States has disrespected our leader. I will remind you again, the president serves at the pleasure of the common people. He is our leader. Congressmen serve at the pleasure of the common people. By disrespecting the president they have disrespected the very common people who elected them.
— Rita A. Keller
Macon
Emails coming to light
We're approaching the first anniversary of the revelation that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton used a private email server to store all of her emails, including those that were business related. At the time, she said (1) that the server had contained personal emails dealing with mundane subjects such as plans for Chelsea's wedding, recipes and her yoga classes; she had since deleted those. And (2) that none of the retained business-related emails contained classified information.
Within all the discussion and furor about the emails in the last year, I don't recall anybody taking Hillary to task over the absolute absurdity of implying that as secretary of state she never handled classified material. Of course she did, and as her latest batch of released emails shows, the Department of State has now deemed 1,818 of them to be classified. Moreover, 29 of them were of the most sensitive and secret nature. So says President Obama's Department of State. And this is the woman who in a recent televised interview swore that she had never lied about anything, ever.
— Burnett Hull
Macon
Absurdities
Georgia legislators are pushing the so-called religious freedom bill (First Amendment Defense Act). If enacted, it would create state-sanctioned discrimination (hate, bigotry and prejudice). Georgia legislators supporting this proposal proclaim to be good Christians. Next, these good Christian legislators will be proposing enacting Sharia law.
Isn't it interesting that a country founded to allow freedom from religious persecution is now using religion to persecute freedoms? And as Voltaire said: "Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities." It is time to say no to hate, bigotry and prejudice.
— Ronald L. Cain
Elko
Facts from fiction
It's time to separate facts from fiction:
Fact: The national debt at the end of fiscal year (FY) 1981 (President Carter's last budget) was $909 billion.
Fact: The national debt at the end of FY 1989 (President Reagan's last budget) was $2.9 trillion.
Fact: The national debt at the end of FY 1993 (President George H.W. Bush's last budget) was $4.3 trillion.
Fact: The national debt at the end of FY 2001 (President Clinton's last budget) was $5.7 trillion.
Fact: The national debt at the end of FY 2009 (President George W. Bush's last budget) was $11.8 trillion.
Fact: The national debt at the end of FY 2015 (President Obama's 6th budget) was $18.7 trillion.
Fiction: In six years, President Barack Obama has run up $18.7 trillion in debt.
— William D. Carter
Bonaire
This story was originally published March 3, 2016 at 9:29 PM with the headline "This is Viewpoints for Friday, March 4, 2016 ."