Readers Write: Governor’s record, name-calling, federal job protection, teen birth control, international issues

Opinion editor’s note: Star Tribune Opinion publishes letters from readers online and in print each day. To contribute, click here.

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The Center of the American Experiment fancies itself a think tank, a place where research and analysis is combined with perspective and commentary in an attempt to influence public policy. What it delivered with its critique of Gov. Tim Walz’s track record was a laundry list of tired partisan talking points (”What America needs to know about Walz,” July 30). The authors warm up their audience with a skewed accounting of the response to the rioting following George Floyd’s murder, get confused about who’s responsible for city crime rates (I thought a mayor was involved) and engage in Monday morning quarterbacking of the early days of the pandemic.

While everyone’s entitled to their perspective, there’s no serious marshaling of the facts which compels one to align with theirs. When they finally get their groove on, they reveal their primary beef with the governor’s record, which is that it runs counter to the Trump party vision of a mythical past, one in which Indigenous people happily rode off into the sunset while intrepid, industrious pioneers plowed up their land. All businesses were good, regulations and taxes bad and all families were headed by hardy, resilient men who didn’t need any help getting by. In a bit of high irony, the authors accuse the governor of engaging in a bait-and-switch tactic to support a vision of America as a “‘racialized hierarchy’ defined by oppression and injustice.” The country’s real past was in fact a hierarchy in which the ideal of “all men created equal” was far from the reality, and in which anyone not white, male and possibly wealthy got a raw deal. The problem for the Party of Trump — and for the Center of the American Experiment — is that you can’t embrace their rosy picture of yesterday and also stick to the facts.

John Ibele, Minneapolis

I absolutely do not understand why name-calling and mocking are tolerated at political rallies. Shouldn’t the candidates be focused on their platforms and policy proposals for the next four years? Give me specifics. I am not interested in character attacks on the opposing candidate. Childish behavior does not impress me. I only want to hear what you as a candidate are going to do on the issues that affect every single American. Stop the childish name-calling and focus on the issues.

Marilyn Condoluci, Crystal

One of the many odious features of the beleaguered Project 2025, which former President Donald Trump is trying to disavow as its director exits (”Project 2025 says work will continue,” July 31), is the call for purging some 50,000 federal civil service employees if the former president is reinstated to the White House.

Stripped of job security protections, those positions would be filled by MAGA loyalists who would be ineligible if the incoming administration follows the job placement tactic utilized by the Republican National Committee. Co-chaired by Lara Trump, the ex-president’s daughter-in-law, that organization reportedly will not hire anyone who has criticized or spoken negatively about her father-in-law.

Well, there goes JD Vance. The GOP vice presidential candidate famously equated Trump with “Hitler,” among other epithets, before he saw the light and converted from a never-Trumper to an always Trump.

Project 2025 gives the former president yet another reason to dump Vance. But that leads to a problem: There’s hardly a credible Republican who has not leveled anti-Trump remarks in the past. Whom does that leave for the veep spot? Hulk Hogan or Kid Rock?

Marshall Tanick, Minneapolis

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As a retired federal employee, I am deeply concerned about the potential reimplementation of Schedule F and the politicization of our federal workforce. The Saving Civil Service Act is a critical piece of legislation that seeks to protect the integrity of the merit-based civil service system, ensuring that federal employees are hired and promoted based on their qualifications and performance, not political connections.

Throughout my career, I witnessed firsthand the importance of a competent and apolitical federal workforce. The merit-based system provides continuity through changing administrations and preserves the institutional knowledge and expertise necessary for the effective functioning of federal agencies. This system ensures that the work of the government is carried out by dedicated and competent professionals.

The act will help preserve the integrity and effectiveness of federal employees who dedicate their careers to serving the public.

It is vital for our lawmakers to ensure that our government continues to function efficiently and fairly for all Americans.

Teddy Howell, Albertville, Minn.

The Biden administration is advocating for minor children to have sex without parental knowledge. What else are we to think when President Joe Biden’s administration, through the Department of Health and Human Services, is trying to advance a policy for health care providers to offer contraceptives to children without parental consent (”Texas sues over birth control access,” July 29)? If minor children are accepting birth control, it’s certain the minor children will be (or have been) experimenting with sexual activities.

Has American society become so numb to morals that it’s normal for underage children to engage in casual (or any) sex? Orthodox Catholic (and Protestant) parents should be livid with shock that a Democratic policy undermines the morals of their religion by offering birth control (and without parental consent) to the minor children still legally under parental care. The Biden administration engages in separating the children from the parents, which only together form the bedrock of society.

Sixty years ago something like this would be unthinkable. But this is what happens when morals become relative to the changing “norms” of society.

Daniel Pryor, Delano

The recent arrest of two Mexican drug lords and the continuous exchange of missiles between Israel and its enemies have one thing in common. They represent policies that have failed over a long period of time and continue to fail.

Success in the drug war will only be achieved by decreasing the number of drug users here. This must be done in a humane way, not just arresting some low-level pushers and users.

In the Middle East, the only solution is a two-state solution. This would require tough compromises for both sides. Israel cannot expect to hold onto occupied territories, including the West Bank, and live in peace with its neighbors. Enemies of Israel cannot expect even a barrage of missiles to change Israeli hearts and minds.

Many would say these solutions are impossible. Can anyone offer some other solution?

Thomas Eckhardt, St. Paul

I offer a counter opinion to Dr. Rachel Engstrom’s letter about Olympic gymnast Kerri Strug’s performance in 1996 (”Value athlete over the win,” July 31). Strug was an 18-year-old adult when she made her decision to continue competing despite an ankle injury. The pain of letting her team down and losing the gold would have been far greater and longer-lasting than any pain from an injured ankle. Isn’t this the kind of control over her own body that women are fighting for?

Nancy Harris, St. Paul