Refrain from emotion-driven voting
President Joe Biden and the U.S. foreign policy establishment’s incompetencies regarding Afghanistan have much larger implications than the majority of U.S. citizens currently recognize. Apart from the immediately discernible pitfalls of leaving an estimated $83 billion worth of military equipment and weapons in the now-terrorist-run state, the downfalls of the Biden regime will unquestionably result in a variety of other foreign affairs concerns, particularly concerning the U.S.’s hegemonic rivals, Russia and China.
As America appears weaker than ever after foolishly abandoning thousands of its own citizens and green card holders in a war-zone, its international rivals are sure to make the geo-strategic moves they were reluctant to make before. And they would be stupid not to. With the U.S. sitting aside as its citizens and allies are bombed by terrorists, belligerent states such as China, Russia and the Iranian theocracy are now vigilant; left to their own devices they’ll inevitably wreak havoc upon the international community.
With aggressive state-actors now aware that the U.S. is exercising a newfound tendency to sit idly by as its citizens and allies are persecuted, we will inevitably witness a series of international catastrophes. China will presumably make efforts to invade Taiwan and further violate the human rights of Hong Kong’s citizens, the Islamic Republic may announce the dawn of a nuclear Iran as work on weapons of mass destruction — specifically nuclear warheads — begins, and Russia will doubtlessly attempt to conquer its Ukrainian neighbor, unfavorably shifting the power-balance in the international arena.
To prevent exacerbating this international debacle in the near future, American voters need to learn to distance themselves from emotion-driven voting, and pursue a more logic-based approach in which policy is actually taken into consideration when casting a ballot. Mindlessly voting for the ostensibly benevolent candidate is what landed us here today.
Giancarlo Domicolo
Honokaa
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There are gray areas
Let me begin this letter by stating I am not an anti-vaxxer. I believe that vaccinations are the best weapon we have in our arsenal to combat the COVID virus and its variants. I applaud the scientists/researchers that have developed vaccines so quickly. I understand that there needs to be safe guards installed throughout the world to curb the spread of this deadly disease. There is much discussion and dissent on the methods being used by different states here at home and abroad.
There is a tipping point between safety issues, personal freedom of choice and issues of discrimination. Merriam-Webster’s dictionary defines discrimination as “the practice of unfairly treating a person or group of people differently from other people or groups of people.”
Vaccination passports, as of today, implies a one-size-fits-all-type philosophy painted in black and white. There are arguments referring to religious beliefs and medical conditions that are being talked about but have not been addressed by local or federal government. I am not vaccinated due to medical constraints and feel my civil rights are being violated. The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination against not only dealing with race, color, religion, sex or national origin it also insures our right to vote, our right for a fair trial, our right to government services, our right for public education and our right to use public facilities. This last provision is currently being violated here on our island with our library requiring a COVID vaccine card to enter.
The next obvious step following this train of reasoning will be segregation. During the days of Jim Crow Laws “blacks” were restricted to designated bathrooms, drinking fountains, restaurants, schools and transportation seating restrictions. Currently in Honolulu, which claimed to be in tier 4 recovery, the unvaccinated do not even have access restaurants or public facilities period. There are no segregated restaurant seating areas, no sealed off seating for public events or access to cultural attractions. The unvaccinated public today have more restrictions than those under the Jim Crow Laws a century ago.
I have written to all of our elected representatives about the need to address these issues and to issue a medical and religious exemption card.
Michael Olson
Honaunau
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