Sound Off: Sept. 11, 2024

Tennis courts

Pickleball is popular, but that does not mean you need to permanently remove the last tennis court and replace it with pickleball courts. You can play pickleball on tennis courts but the reverse is not true. Let’s share the space. I play both but do not want to lose the tennis option.

Ditch the Electoral College

I disagree with the Sound Off about the Electoral College. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates the population of the U.S. was 337,065,993 on Sept 7, 2024. Those people are spread all across the country. They will vote for whoever they support for President regardless of where they live. The Electoral College is outdated and no longer needed with the technology available now and can be manipulated. Our presidents should be elected by popular vote just as our state, city and county candidates are. We the people should choose our president, not partisan states. Keep the voter registration and photo ID requirements and change to one person, one vote.

Keep the Electoral College

We need the Electoral College. Besides being required by the Constitution, without this system the tyranny of the majority would rule. Without it the candidates would only worry about getting votes in the largest cities and leave the rest of us out in the cold.

Russian meddling

Right-wing influencers were paid millions by Russia to spread false information.

Doing what others won’t

It gets so tiring hearing the right claim that immigrants are destroying our country. Their crime rate is much lower than normal and they are willing to do jobs that elitist, entitled Americans see as beneath them.

Remember when?

I remember a time not too long ago when politicians had to be on their best behavior or they had no chance of winning or keeping their positions. A photo of a woman on your lap who was not your wife or having a love child with a campaign worker was a big scandal that could do you in, as it did Gary Hart and John Edwards.

Gun culture

America is a sick society. No other advanced Western society has the level of gun violence that we have. We have it because of paranoid interpretations of the Second Amendment and because of the rampant greed of some who profit by producing and selling guns and ammunition. Sen. Vance says that gun violence, including the sickening violence against children, is just “a fact of life ... just the reality we live in.” It doesn’t have to be that way — not to the extent that it is. Responsible, vetted gun ownership? Yes. Irresponsible, unvetted gun ownership? No. And responsible gun ownership involves being responsible for keeping one’s guns out of the hands of the unauthorized. Some cancers can’t be cured. But they can be tamped down.

Immigration

I’m not sure I understand: What’s the difference between an “undocumented immigrants” and “illegal aliens”. We either have a sovereign country with immigration laws or we have a wide open country. No effective vetting means no control and less security from foreign adversaries. The immigrants are often coming from countries with no ability for us to vet. Being humanitarian is one thing but being complacent and stupid is another. God bless us.

Social security

Suzanne Blake’s Newsweek article on the future of social security fell short on options. She sees only two fixes to the impending implosion of Social Security: Kamala’s proposed tax hikes and Trump’s promise to leave the system alone. Higher taxes hurt the individual taxpayer, as well as that person’s employer, by taking money directly out of their pockets to fund a pie in the sky “retirement” plan. Leaving it alone is guaranteeing a slow death to the system. Other options should be to stop taxing Social Security, end benefits to those who didn’t pay in, and allow those who want to exit the enforced tax grab to do so. Give the average taxpayer a real “401k” type of retirement plan, funded by the same taxes. This would allow personal accumulated wealth that can even be passed down to their heirs.

Weaponized?

The far-right is keen on saying the DOJ has been weaponized against Donald Trump and the timing of all his court cases is election interference. I say his crimes are catching up to him all at once and that’s too bad.

Putin’s choice

Vladimir Putin might be evil, but he is not stupid. Endorsing Vice President Harris says a lot about who Putin would prefer to deal with.

Go away

Any time Tropical Storm Francine wants to make a turn to the west would be just fine with me, thanks.

Send your Sound Offs to soundoff@sunherald.com.