Copyright The New York Times
To the Editor: The idea of America — equal opportunity for all — is what made America great. President Trump and the Republican Party seem bent on destroying that. The American dream has driven not only the hardest working but also some of the smartest people who come to our shores, from all countries and all walks of life. This gave us a competitive advantage over other nations. Our widening income gap — caused largely by supply-side G.O.P. economic policies, combined with the nativist movement in American politics today — will not make America great; it will do just the opposite. An arrogant, unwelcoming, economically polarized America, inundated with fake patriotism, is an America that exists for its own sake and ignores the value that its spirited, diverse population created for all of us over the past century. If we lose what was once our competitive advantage we will lose our greatest resource — ourselves. Capitalism may have been the engine that has moved us forward, but our people are the fuel that have made it run. We must never forget this. If we do, we will not only lose the idea of America that has made us who we are but also who and what we are capable of becoming. Maurice F. Baggiano Jamestown, N.Y. The writer is a lawyer. To the Editor: Re “Remember President Palmer? Exactly,” by Gerald F. Seib (Opinion guest essay, Oct. 19): This was a good reminder of a terrible moment in our history, but the direct segue to the Palmer Raids did more damage and was not mentioned: the Immigration Act of 1924, also known as the Johnson-Reed Act. This law established quotas based on national origin, limiting immigration to 2 percent of each nationality counted in the 1890 census. It cleverly left doors open to light-complected immigrants from Northwestern Europe, while sharply restricting the entry of “undesirables” from the Mediterranean, Eastern Europe and Asia. Johnson-Reed was opposed by a freshman congressman from New York, Emanuel Celler. Its repeal was his life’s work, and he was finally successful in 1965. But throughout the 1930s, untold thousands of refugees from the excluded regions, including my own extended family, were turned away and perished in the Holocaust. America has had a race-based anti-immigrant strain since the second ship arrived. Our next iteration, apparently, will close our borders and open our airports to Afrikaners and few others. To the Editor: Re “Scientists Need to Take Headaches Seriously,” by Tom Zeller Jr. (Opinion guest essay, Nov. 5): I was gratified to see the essay by Mr. Zeller about the value of migraine research. As the executive director of the American Brain Foundation, I know that migraines are a brain condition worthy of research time and dollars. Many brain conditions are interconnected, and researchers increasingly recognize that a breakthrough in one area can lead to advances across many others. Neuroscientists are now on the verge of unraveling the mechanisms behind conditions such as Parkinson’s, epilepsy, dementia and Tourette’s. Progress in any one of these fields often sparks discoveries that accelerate understanding and treatment of the rest. We are leaning into that conviction and funding research on neuroinflammation, a characteristic of many brain conditions as diverse as multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s and, yes, migraine. We believe that improving our understanding of how neuroinflammation works and how to combat it could lead to a golden era in brain research and treatments.
