LETTER TO THE - EDITOR

LETTER TO THE EDITOR

The True Enemy

Mr. Bohr, You may be right about the enemy from within. However, it may not be who you think it is. Your anger, fear, distrust and discontent for Democrats and everyone you disagree with — at least I assumed that’s who you meant by scoundrels, miscreants and your enemies — is shared by millions just like you and have found yourself right where Republicans want you. Mad as hell and just as fearful of your fellow Americans. They rely on anger to motivate you to vote. An angry voter votes. Clearly this is what motivated you to write your letter.

This fear and anger can only lead to division, property damage and violence. We all watched it unfold, live on TV. It wasn’t the Democrats that tried to overturn an election that they lost and when that failed, incite an angry mob to attack the Capitol in an attempt to stop the peaceful transfer of power. You can say that that was long ago and far away and that that can’t happen here. But you’d be wrong.

Last October, I was threatened and vandalized by people just as angry and condescending as you. Some people may recall my letter printed right here explaining my experience. Later, just days before the election, another wonderful neighbor of mine tried to publicly humiliate and discredit me with his own letter. He accused me of lying and blamed me (victim blaming is for cowards) for starting it. I did not! I responded to this attempt to discredit me, and I laid out in great detail, dispelling all the lies and accusations hurled at me. Unfortunately, the publisher denied me for publication. She explained her reasons and I disagreed. If you or anyone would like to read this letter, email me at ron.gutenberger@ gmail.com and I’ll send you a copy.

Certainly what happened to me is nearly inconsequential and the property damage is hardly worth mentioning. It is, however, a prime example of how your politics has shaped how you and those like you view your own neighbors. Am I just another crazy Democrat? Am I the enemy from within?

You have lost trust in government agencies across the board and no longer trust experts and professionals. Whether it’s a court of law that has found the president guilty on 34 counts of falsifying business records, liable for fraud, and liable for sexual abuse, or anything related to investigations of stolen documents or crimes related to Jan. 6th, to scientists telling us that climate change is here and that the time to act is now, or the doctors who advised us how to avoid getting and spreading Covid 19 to, apparently your personal physician, you have chosen to believe one man. I’ll take the vaccine and you can get your ivermectin.

You blame Democrats for ruining election integrity. You likely believe the 2020 election was stolen, despite not a shred of evidence to back these claims up. We have seen hours of sworn testimony by Republicans, and Republicans only, about the crimes leading up to and on January 6th. We have heard from a recorded phone call, between the president and the secretary of state of Georgia, trying for an hour to coerce him to find the president just enough votes so he could claim victory by one vote. And yet, you choose to believe one man who never testified under oath.

I have to wonder, did you have faith when you cast your ballot last time? Or was it hope? That way, if it didn’t turn out like you wanted, you could claim it was rigged. Since the first election anywhere, no one has trusted the other side to conduct the election and ever since safeguards have been put in place to protect integrity. Your claims about election integrity are as ridiculous as the president’s claim he won in 2020. By the way, more people voted for someone other than the winner in 2024.

Maybe you trust your polling station because, like me, you recognize someone there and you know they are all local people and it can’t happen here. All elections are local and all the nefarious activities is somewhere else. If you don’t believe 100% in the system, whether it’s here or in any other state, and accept that the good citizens that work the polls across the country are as honest as you see yourself, then you are voting in vain.

Clearly immigration is high on your list. You seem to suggest every migrant that crosses is an illegal. A documented migrant is not an illegal. Amnesty is guaranteed in the Constitution and is subject to abuse. Two years ago, at a town hall meeting hosted by Congressman Tiffany, those of us there were told that “most migrants don’t show up for their amnesty hearings, they just don’t show up.” Tiffany makes statements like these because it makes people like you angry. Because an angry voter votes. I, on the other hand, became suspicious. Most is a rather vague number. Surely he should know this statistic. A quick Google search states that, according to court records, 95% or more show up for hearings. Or less than 5% “just don’t.” According to Mr. Tiffany’s definition of “most,” you can trust him “most” of the time. Of course, Mr. Bohr, I don’t expect you to believe the court system could accurately record and compile this data.

Two weeks ago, in an article in this newspaper, a farmer blamed (again with the victim blaming) farmers and others for basing their business model on cheap labor. This is American capitalism. The economy of scale is the rule and you better believe the billionaires are the rulers. In President Trump’s first term, then-Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue, speaking to a group of farmers, opened with a joke about farmers wining (whining) in the cellars and then proceeded to tell them to “get big or get out.” Half of all farm labor is done by migrants. If you want them all to be documented, then laws have to change. The Presidential Sharpie can’t write the laws, that’s the legislative branch’s job.

In the summer of last year, and after weeks or months of bipartisan negotiations, the first comprehensive immigration reform package since Reagan was finally on it’s way to becoming law. That is, until the current president nixed it so he could keep you angry. Because an angry voter votes. I haven't heard anything about immigration reform yet, and Democrats may not be so willing to give Republicans the things that they agreed to before. Real reform has to come from the legislative process and not from the guy that says he alone can fix it. That would be a dictator.

Much to your delight, the president has brought a sledgehammer (and the world’s richest man) with him to D.C., firing career professionals and freezing funding in mass. Government workers — or, as you might call them, the deep state — have lost their jobs. People with 20 to 30 years of service were fired because they were promoted to a new position less than a year ago and were on a probationary status. They were told that they failed in performance evaluations, despite never having such problems in the past. These cuts to personnel, from FEMA to NOAA to the U.S. Forestry Service and on and on, will reduce their ability to adequately serve the people who depend on them. Government exists to serve the people; it is not a business. When money is involved, the potential for fraud is there, whether it’s someone scamming welfare or disaster relief. Even a relatively small number of farmers have been caught scamming millions from the government.

With a swipe of the Presidential Sharpie, funding has been frozen. For USAID, this means a stop to all food, medicines and clinical services. This also means American farmers lost a $2 billion customer. At the USDA, if anyone is left, funding for farmers has been frozen. Farmers that signed cost-share contracts with the USDA and borrowed money to complete these projects are left holding the bag, not knowing when or if they will get the money promised them to repay the government’s share of the loans. Cuts or more restrictions in crop insurance and looming tariffs and trade wars are added burdens for farmers to bear.

Taking a sledgehammer to something that needs fixing and picking up the pieces and then trying to figure out what was broken in the first place doesn’t make any sense.

I don't blame you for how you feel. I understand why you feel as you do. You, and the millions like you, have surrendered your mind to one man. It is easy to allow a strongman to make all the hard decisions for you and promise to make it great again. You believe him when he says “I alone can fix it.”

Ron Gutenberger Colby

Military Leadership Shake Up

Dear Editor: We have witnessed an unprecedented series of challenges to the Constitution and established law during the first four weeks of the Trump Administration. Congress has demonstrated a dangerous acquiescence, if not submissiveness, to the president. The world has seen similar scenarios unfold in the past and they all follow the same dangerous script we seem to be following today.

Trumps purge of top military officers and attorneys under t he guise of their having failed to endorse efforts to remove Diversity, Equality and Inclusion (DEI) from the military is the most chilling development to date in his attempt to destroy government as we know it. Dictators cannot usurp authority without the support of the military. Democratically elected representatives declaring devotion to the president instead of the constitution emboldens a ‘wannabe’ dictator. Assertions of royal status mock the foundation of a democracy. Declarations of being above the law challenge the tenants this nation has relied on for 250 years. Listen for the current dialogue of false declarations to intensify. Expect declarations of martial law and the use of military personnel and equipment to disperse large protests. Look for people to be arrested and charged with being ‘enemies of the state’ for organizing or leading demonstrations. Anticipate efforts to suspend, amend or revoke parts of the constitution.

I am sure some will say I am an alarmist, but much of this story is already in play. We can only hope more rational directives from our elected leaders will put us on a better path.

Bryce Luchterhand Unity

1970s Colby Football

Dear Editor: In your article 'Celebrating 1970s Colby football,' one name came up several times when discussing players— Dave Becherer. He was a staple in the early years of Teska’s tenure at Colby. Dave went on to play for the NCAA Hall of Fame coach Roger Harring at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. His time there was full of success as well as a rare accomplishment. Dave is the only player in all of college football history to have blocked a field goal and made a field goal in the same game. Something he did twice.

Daniel Becherer