To the Editor,
Crazy things are happening in our Nation’s Capitol for sure, but it’s worth remembering that even bad behavior can be used as a tool for education. In this case, for educating young adults.
All young adults face challenges navigating the difficult path between childhood and the real world. This time of life is exciting, but can also be difficult, and wow, is there a lot to learn.
In childhood, most of us live with family. We eventually move out and often rent a place, and that means learning to work under an entirely different set of rules. Not only is there a landlord, but there are utility bills to pay, and appliances that you don’t own but may not work quite right. There’s a lot of responsibility to grow into.
Renting means entering into a legal agreement with someone because you are living in a property that you do not own. You are a temporary occupant, and it is important to be a responsible tenant. When you move out, you should leave the dwelling in reasonably good condition. As a renter, you will certainly have to fork over what is called a “security deposit,” often an entire month’s rent. You have to give this to the landlord up front; to be used to fix any damage you may have made to the rental property. After you move out, the landlord makes an inspection and uses the security deposit to make repairs so that the place is suitable for the next tenant. The remainder of the security deposit is returned to you.
This is where the current depravity in Washington come into the story. Now I don’t know exactly how much President Trump is paying to rent the White House, but considering what he has done to it, when he moves out in a few years, he has absolutely no chance of getting any security deposit back.
Sincerely,
F.J. Lockman
Cass
Editor,
Based on polling data a significant number of Americans believe that presenting voter ID and being a US citizen to vote in US elections makes common sense. Some polls suggest that this is over 80% of the population. That means that this is a bipartisan issue, something very rare these days. The democratic political machine on the other hand is completely opposed to this and among other things it claims that it will disenfranchise voters who cannot provide proof of citizenship and do not have a passport or birth certificate. These claims are disingenuous in that if you read the actual law, you will find that for this small part of the population remedies exist.
The law states “(A) PROCESS FOR THOSE WITHOUT DOCUMENTARY PROOF. – “(i) IN GENERAL. – Subject to any relevant guidance adopted by the Election Assistance Commission, each State shall establish a process under which an applicant who cannot provide documentary proof of United States citizenship under paragraph (1) may, if the applicant signs an attestation under penalty of perjury that the applicant is a citizen of the United States and eligible to vote in elections for Federal office, submit such other evidence to the appropriate State or local official demonstrating that the applicant is a citizen of the United States and such official shall make a determination as to whether the applicant has sufficiently established United States citizenship for purposes of registering to vote in elections for Federal office in the State.”
I also hear claims that actual cases of voter fraud are only in the thousands. How can you determine the extent of voter fraud in states like California that outlaw voter ID? Unless you check every voter, which is not being done you have no way of knowing how much may or may not exist. Regardless of the numbers which are unknown I believe any amount of voter fraud is unacceptable, many elections have come down to a handful of votes being the deciding factor and no doubt this will occur many times in the future.
I have heard both Republicans and Democrats claim elections are stolen. We need an election system with adequate checks and balances so that all of us regardless of party affiliation have faith in it. All a system that has any room for doubt does is further divide us. If you look at US history, you find many examples of significant voter fraud in the past. Believing human nature has changed and many politicians, if they find a loophole in the process, will not cheat to get or stay in office is not realistic.
It is passed time to improve the process so everyone can have confidence in it. The Save Act, although not perfect, is a good step toward accomplishing this goal. Term limits for Congress and prohibitions on stock trading also need to be pursued among other reforms, when getting elected for life is your main goal as a politician you have a conflict of interest. Serving in Congress should not be a lifetime source of income but something done for a short period of time to solve real problems, and yes term limits will also come with some issues but, once again, nothing is perfect in the real world, sometimes good enough is okay. No doubt a response I will get to this concept is that elections are term limits.
Unfortunately, many Americans do not vote and many that do never bother to do research into candidates but just vote along party lines. The result is an entitled political class looking out for their own interests in many cases and not ours.
Joe Kaffl
Hillsboro
