Readers Write: Polarization, young offenders, Tim Walz, U.S. Steel-Nippon Steel merger

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

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Thank you to state Sen. Julia Coleman for the excellent column in Wednesday’s paper, “If they win, we lose: American unity must outperform this November” (Strib Voices, Aug. 28). I have friends on both sides of this current election. I would like to see them come to my side on the important issues facing our nation. If they don’t, I still intend to be a friend to them, and I hope they feel the same. The forces that seek to divide us know division weakens. If we deny them this, our country wins, and we all do, too!

Connie Sambor, Plymouth

My response to the Aug. 23 letter to the editor “Don’t get sidetracked by ‘joyriding’ detail” about the four children shot in a stolen car in north Minneapolis: When your car gets a flat tire, you stop to change it. Hopefully, you have a spare in your trunk. The point is that you need to get somewhere, and you can’t do that with a flat tire. Your first impulse isn’t to sit on the side of the road with an unworkable car, analyzing reasons and theories behind flat tires. You don’t sit on the side of the road and rage against road conditions or tire manufacturers. You fix the flat and then get moving.

Minneapolis appears to have a “flat tire” when it comes to keeping young offenders off the streets (”Placement options needed for youngest offenders,” Strib Voices, Aug. 28). This presents serious safety risks for the youth themselves and for Minneapolis residents. Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty’s youth diversion program isn’t working. If the issue is that Moriarty and her office can’t find a way to make charges stick, some concerns come to mind. We have seen unsupportable charges against police officers and Moriarty herself all over the news reminding us that she does not support law enforcement. Moriarty is quite “creative” when it comes to charging police officers, but when it comes to kids under the age of 15 riding in a stolen car and getting shot, her mind draws a blank.

Fixed mindsets obscure real and actual solutions. Agendas don’t fix flat tires. It’s time to find a process and procedure that allows law enforcement to keep young offenders off the streets. Keep them off the streets first. Then let’s get moving.

Jacqueline Williams, Minneapolis

Like many of my fellow Minnesotans, I stayed up too late watching vice presidential candidate Gov. Tim Walz’s speech at the Democratic National Convention. As I took in his encouraging football-coach energy, I felt a surge of hope. What we need right now in our country is a coach — one who promotes unity and inclusivity.

Walz brings the focus toward us, not me or mine. His lifelong commitment to service is clear through 24 years in the military, as a history teacher and a coach. He has the reputation as a helpful neighbor during a time when many have become skeptical of neighbors. We need to know each other again.

As humans, we are wired to help others and be helped. Political leaders use fear to divide us, yet our mental health is so much stronger when we build relationships. As a psychotherapist for over 15 years, I know the benefits range from physical health to the reduction of anxiety and depression and beyond. In my therapy practice and personal life, I have witnessed the devastating effects of the pandemic and political divisiveness. Loneliness is pervasive; the U.S. surgeon general recently named it a public health crisis.

Like my fellow Northerners, I appreciate Walz’s accessible style — including the relatable commentary and the flannel shirts. But more than flannel, we need his and Kamala Harris’ care about the greater good, reinforcing that each person has value. Just like a thriving football team (without the uniforms).

People feel better when focused on the collective instead of on personal gain. We do better as a part of a team that emphasizes belonging and service. The Harris-Walz ticket encourages Americans to embrace interdependence for a more neighborly and just world. After years of escalating division and isolation, that is the coaching America needs. And deserves.

Emma Nadler, Minnetonka

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One of the many interesting but overlooked juxtapositions emerging at the Democratic convention was the scorn coming from Walz, while accepting his party’s vice presidential nomination, directed to the Yale Law School education of his Republican counterpart, JD Vance.

The Democrats’ appropriation of traditional GOP themes of flag-waving patriotism, bellicose rhetoric on some foreign policy matters and “freedom” from governmental intrusions have been well-noted. But few have commented upon Walz’s sarcastic remark that none of his 24-member Nebraska high school classmates “went to Yale,” as did Vance.

It recalled how former President Donald Trump has, in years past, railed against “the elites” who take advantage of his loyal, often downtrodden followers and sustain the rival party.

But while the ex-president now revels in his support, financial and otherwise, from elites, it’s the Democrats, led by Walz, denigrating that motif.

Although there is much to abhor about Vance — and his presidential running mate, too, for that matter — his rise from a marginal economic and social upbringing in Ohio to obtain a law degree from Yale, one of the nation’s best institutions, warrants commendation, not condemnation.

If the governor is so averse to a Yale Law School education, he ought to aim his jibe at fellow Democrats who have led his party’s ticket in the past like President Bill Clinton and his wife, Hillary, who are alumni of that stellar school.

Marshall H. Tanick, Minneapolis

Regarding Paul Gazelka’s commentary on the possible U.S. Steel-Nippon Steel merger (”A critical opportunity for the Iron Range,” Strib Voices, Aug. 26): The piece tried to accomplish two purposes. First was to voice support for the deal and second was to disparage Democrats. It would have been better if he had stuck to the first purpose and addressed the concerns of the opposition.

No one is arguing that this could bring much-needed union jobs to the area, and I am willing to believe that Nippon would honor union contracts. But Gazelka fails to address why President Joe Biden (with Democrats following suit) oppose the deal: Allowing a vital resource to be owned by a foreign nation could be a threat to national security. Even though Japan and the U.S. have been allies for decades, Nippon also does business with Chinese companies. China, according to the World Steel Association, already produces half the world’s steel.

Gazelka’s commentary might have been convincing if he had addressed this very real concern and perhaps offered other solutions to advance economic well-being in the Iron Range rather than, in typical Republican fashion, ignoring facts and logic.

Rondi Atkin, Minneapolis

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Gazelka’s commentary relating to opportunities for the Iron Range was really a thinly veiled political hack job on Gov. Tim Walz and to rehash decisions he made a few years ago that have nothing to do with the merits of the merger between U.S. Steel and a Japanese company. He touts the praise of a local United Steelworkers (USW) union member for the deal but failed to mention that the main United Steelworkers union has opposed the deal as it stands. He also failed to mention that numerous Republican legislators oppose the deal, and his standard-bearer, Donald Trump, said he would block it.

Brian Layer, Becker, Minn.