Copyright Norfolk Virginian-Pilot
Shutdown’s effects I am a moderate Democrat who is happy that some Democrats broke ranks to reopen the government. While I am against ever shutting down the government — they are always painful, and accomplish little — the Democrats were well within their rights to ask for something in exchange for their votes. Republicans would do the same. I don’t think anyone was expecting the President Donald Trump’s response. Instead of trying to protect Americans from the worst of the shutdown’s effects, he did his utmost to make it even more painful. Whether it was laying off federal workers, deciding who would (and wouldn’t) get paid, cutting food stamps (SNAP), or making air travel a nightmare, he was intent on twisting the knife to inflict as much pain on the average American as possible. In the end, Democrats had no choice but to reopen the government for the good of the country. I would hope that come next November, voters still remember who had their backs and who was willing to let them twist in the wind. Michael Stevens, Yorktown Divided One of the most effective ways to learn is through observation. In the scientific world this is the first and most crucial step in developing any idea or theory. This same method can be used when trying to understand or analyze any issue but it must be objective observation and therein lies the problem. Objective observation and analysis when it comes to politics, particularly anything Trumpian, has become something so rare that it’s almost nonexistent. Currently I have no idea how that changes but I do know that until it does we will always be a nation divided. Rob Levinsky, Norfolk Proof Re “Proof of citizenship” (Your Views, Nov. 7): The letter writer’s closing questions asked, “Why would anyone object to a voter having to show that he or she is a citizen of this country when they vote? What planet does this person live on?” Comments like this reflect a much bigger problem in this country today. It is clear that the writer made no effort to answer his own questions nor did he really care to consider that there might be a reasonable alternative point of view. Kansas once required voters to prove citizenship. That didn’t work out so well. If you research the issue, the writer would have discovered that because of administrative snafus and incomplete records — thousands of bona fide U.S. citizens’ voter registrations in states with proof-of-citizenship requirements are being rejected versus a few instances of voter fraud. Solving the administrative problems so as not to disenfranchise citizens of their right to vote isn’t that easy, like most problems of this scale. Fix the real underlying problems and then it will be reasonable to prove citizenship once when registering to vote and not every time when voting. Proof of citizenship and proof of identity are not necessarily the same. Charles Griffin, Virginia Beach ‘Hunger Games’ Due to tariffs and continued inflation, the prices of daily essentials remain beyond the reach of many families. Add to this the burden of health care and the reductions in food assistance. Sometimes the people in power actually say the quiet part out loud. Hence, now that the administration (think Capitol) has declared war on select cities and states (think districts); we are deep into the “Hunger Games” scenario. The best AI-generated depiction of President “Donald J. Snow” with his “white rose and partial white house” will surely go viral. Additionally, candidates for the position of “Mockingjay” should present themselves at the hanging tree (think Tree of Liberty). Hopefully, our current real life “Hunger Games” will not play out in the way that was presented in the movies. Tom Banford, Chesapeake
