As some people rail against Joe Biden for the events at our border, let’s put the blame where it belongs. For years, we have disrupted the political, social and economic systems in Central America. Fixing the Central American trade pact would go a long way in helping the people of these countries. The Trump administration cut off much of the aid to Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, countries that, last year, sustained devastating blows from two major hurricanes that totally destroyed their economies.
You must also be made aware that the United States would not and cannot exist without immigrants. Our birthrate is not keeping up with the need for workers and is at its lowest point since 1976. Without the current immigrants — many of whom are working in our fields and meat plants — you would not have food on your table. Many of the “Dreamers” are the doctors, nurses and staff that have cared for our sick and dying through this pandemic.
From the Africans brought here against their will and who made the South prosper to the Chinese who built our railroads and opened our West to the thousands of scientists, doctors, businesspeople and scholars — we would not have survived without them.
As Republicans fight the president on his infrastructure bill, saying it will add too much to the debt, let’s not forget that the tax bill they passed in 2017 using reconciliation added $2 trillion to the debt before the pandemic.
We have had two really good infrastructure bills since 1900. First was Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s, which gave us the Civilian Conservation Corps to address cleaning up our forests to prevent wildfires. It gave us the Works Progress Administration, building bridges, roads and dams. It gave us the Tennessee Valley Authority, bringing electricity to rural areas.
Then, in the 1950s, Dwight Eisenhower used a massive infrastructure bill to build the interstate highway system. Recent reports by the American Society of Civil Engineers show that we have 45,000 bridges that are deficient. Our electric grids are open to cyber-tampering and weather issues. Let the problems in Texas this winter and the recent pipeline attack be a warning if inaction is allowed to continue.
While Republicans complain that social issues (homebound care for the elderly, child care, education) are not infrastructure, they fail to acknowledge that all these things are a drain keeping able-bodied people from our workforce. There are now over 800,000 people waiting for home care. Child care is haphazard and costs more than many people make.
Many of you are climate-deniers. You need only look at the increased weather events (hurricanes, tornadoes, etc.) to see that climate change is real. Our levels of carbon dioxide are the highest they have ever been. We are experiencing major droughts. World production of food has fallen 21% in the past 20 years due to warming. We are already seeing “ghost forests” along the Atlantic coast, where the saltwater is inundating and killing trees. Farmers are having problems with saltwater intrusion in their fields. Ask the people of Smith Island and Tangier Island in the Chesapeake Bay about the flooding and loss of land due to sea level rise.
The American people are tired of five years of ranting, raving, lies, name-calling and Republican legislatures overturning the will of the people. Republicans are now obstructionists and enemies of our great country.
Doris W. Draper
Houston
