Readers Write: Biden’s withdrawal from race, childfree voters and a ban on cows at the fair

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I’m concerned that former GOP Minnesota Rep. Tony Jurgens is struggling with memory loss because he seems to have forgotten what happened on Jan. 6, 2021. If he remembered like the rest of us, he wouldn’t have written such a tone-deaf column (”It’s wrong to call Biden’s withdrawal from the race heroic,” July 24), accusing President Joe Biden of doing something undemocratic by deciding not to run for re-election, showing that he is capable and willing to peacefully transfer power. The rest of us remember the events of Jan. 6. We remember then-President Donald Trump being unwilling to peacefully transfer power. We remember him conspiring to overthrow the free and fair election he lost and refusing to call off the violent mob that descended on our nation’s Capitol. The violence led to the deaths of three police officers and four of his supporters. The mob threatened the life of his vice president and Democratic lawmakers. Those actions led to threats against Democratic lawmakers in other states, including Minnesota. I won’t forget the Minnesota House Sergeant at Arms telling me that my family and I shouldn’t be at our home on an upcoming Saturday in January because there were threats of an armed mob stopping by the houses of Democratic lawmakers. It is Trump that is a threat to the democratic process. He has shown himself incapable of honoring the Constitution and following the rule of law. The smoke and mirrors column of Jurgens would be laughable if it wasn’t so dangerous.

The Rev. Todd Lippert, Northfield

Lippert is a former member of the Minnesota House, serving as a Democrat from 2019 to 2022.

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After reading Jurgens’ commentary, I couldn’t help thinking of how hypocritical the Republican Party is and of Michael Jackson’s song “The Man In The Mirror.” Making a change starts with each of us when we realize a need to improve a situation or the world.

Biden realized that this change was necessary. It doesn’t matter when he realized it. Heroically, he ended his political career. The Democrats not allowing time for a primary selection is no different from allowing the Republican cult following of Trump to make their primary selection a farce. There is no way any challengers to Trump had a chance to win. There was no vetting of candidates, just a show of primary secondhand contenders. And to challenge the importance of transparency and honesty in leadership, look at the Republican nominee. He lies about the election loss, he lies about his presidency record, he lies about the state of the economy, he lies about causing the insurrection on Jan. 6, he lies about keeping classified documents, he lies about his sexual encounters and he lies about voter fraud. Holding leaders accountable needs to start with Trump. Jurgens, a former Republican member of the Minnesota House, says that the American people deserve better and that leaders and their entourages should not place personal and political considerations above the greater good. That means that the Republican Party needs to stand up and stop bowing to the Trump base as a way to keep their elected positions. That means keeping a felon and compulsive liar out of the highest office in the land.

Rich Benson, Plymouth

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Jurgens’ comments, meant to criticize Biden, are more applicable to Trump. Consider “genuine assessment of one’s ability to serve, not on a desire to hold onto power.” Reading the whole article with Trump in mind reveals other points that might give one pause to support Trump.

David Perlman, New Hope

Like several of my friends, I’ve ordered my “Childless Cat Ladies for Kamala” T-shirt and will wear it with a smile. But while I may laugh at the stupidity of JD Vance’s comments from a few years ago, I’m also angered by their cruelty.

Vance, the Ohio senator and Republican nominee for vice president, suggested that parents should have one extra vote for each child they have, and people without kids “shouldn’t get nearly the same voice.” I and millions of Americans are childless by choice, but that isn’t the case for everyone. My cousin tried for years to have a baby, but to her sorrow and that of her family, it didn’t happen. She would have been a great mom. To say that her voice should count for less because she has no “stake” in the future is appalling — as if she doesn’t care about her nieces and nephews and the kids they will have; as if she should have a discounted say over who governs the country she’ll be living in for another 40-odd years.

This is America: I get one vote, you get one vote and Vance gets one vote, no matter how many kids, cats or homes we happen to have. Whatever our family structure may be and however it came to be, the last thing any of us need is to be judged for it on the way to the polls by the likes of a faux-hillbilly venture capitalist like Vance.

Anne Hamre, Roseville

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Thank you, Jennifer Brooks, for your succinct response to Vance’s comments on child-free people, with or without the cats (”After insulting Jennifer Aniston and ‘childless cat ladies’ everywhere, JD Vance heads to Minnesota,” July 26). It is also worth noting that while Vance has a history of promoting legislation that encourages having children, such as proposing free hospital care for childbirth, he has pushed back when it comes to affordable child care, stating, “Universal day care is class war against normal people,” even though according to a survey by Nerd Wallet, “27% of people under age 60 said that they do not plan to have children because the cost of child care is too high.” This brings us to a few conclusions. First, Vance’s stance is hypocritical, deriding people for not having children but doing nothing to support the actual raising of them. Second, Vance does not support parents, particularly mothers, working outside the home. This is not only a baseless value judgment on child-free people, but when support is withheld from working families, that is a move to keep people economically depressed. Particularly women, who earn 82 cents for every dollar a man earns (Pew Research Center, 2022). What better way to exercise control over women than to do so financially? Vance’s messaging is much like other unwelcome and inappropriate comments made about women’s choices these days: it is about control.

Kara M. Greshwalk, Minneapolis

The report that Minnesota State Fair organizers are expected to not have pregnant cows giving birth at the fair because of fears of bird flu is a timely action (”State Fair expected to bar birthing cows,” July 26). But what thought is given to the stress of transporting pregnant cows and sows from farm-to-fair and the need of most animals for seclusion and security while giving birth?

Pigs can carry swine flu that can infect people, and the highly infectious H5N1 strain of influenza now infecting dairy herds and some farm workers can be transmitted by house flies and blow flies. Would it not be prudent, regardless of testing, to have no cows, pigs or poultry at any state fair? The precautionary principle is the cornerstone of preventive medicine.

Michael W. Fox, Golden Valley