Letters to the Editor: A grandmother writes: ‘Keep the faith. Democracy will prevail’

To the editor: How can Republicans sleep at night? How do they explain to their children that they watch as the Trump administration took bread from the mouths of the hungry and medicine from the dying by cutting the U.S. Agency for International Development? (“We may all regret dismantling USAID,” Feb. 22)

And it isn’t just USAID. Don’t we want our grandchildren to breathe clean air and be safe from storms fueled by climate change? Don’t we all want to protect our healthcare and education systems?

Who voted for Elon Musk to seize our private personal information and fire people? How can we allow an unhinged, heartless bully into the cockpit of our country when he plans to crash it?

Seizing the Panama Canal, Greenland and Gaza? Really?

I am a grandmother who remembers marching for peace, civil rights and women’s rights. We cheered with hope when the disgraced President Richard Nixon flew off in that helicopter and the good guys won.

Resist this madness before the unhinged, heartless bully shreds our Constitution and our future. Keep the faith. Democracy will prevail.

Joy Hamlat, Oxnard

..

To the editor: America voted for change last November (by a small margin — hardly a mandate), but not at a billionaire’s whim.

Congress should decide how we spend our money, but instead, casual cruelty has replaced debate and accountability. No matter who signs the order or sends the emails, no one should be allowed to disappear an agency such as USAID over a weekend.

At under 1% of the federal budget, the highly skilled and dedicated USAID team at home and abroad has saved lives, prevented wars and helped America’s farmers.

USAID is not the problem. But Trump and his billionaire advisers have to find scapegoats to hide their self-serving priorities. It’s not about waste. It’s about how they can get more money and power. They don’t care about the rest of us.

Congress must protect USAID and the way we make decisions. Resist the billionaires. Reject appeasement every step of the way.

Mary Malhotra, La Cañada Flintridge