Letters to the editor: July 24, 2019

How about lowering

UT tuition for all?

University of Texas freebies for certain incomes?

When will the welfare stop?

I doubt anyone making a few dollars more or double the limits could afford to send a student to UT. If they did, they themselves would have to live a very limited life.

How about a system cutting the pay of coaches and professors and use that money to lower tuition for all students? Bill Hoglan, Georgetown

Open up Medicare

and people will come

Concerning the never-ending squabble among Democrats about whether to improve the Affordable Care Act or go immediately to "Medicare for all," let's try to remember the goal.

The goal is universal health care for all. The name of the program doesn't really matter. At least one of the Democratic candidates for president has said, "Let's do Medicare for all who want it." That combines the efficiency and popularity of the Medicare system while allowing employees and employers who want to continue to use private insurance to do so.

I have not noticed a huge popular uprising from senior citizens demanding to be put back into the private health insurance system. Most seem very satisfied with the choice of providers and the cost of Medicare. I suspect that over time (and not much time) most employees and employers using private insurance will choose to enter the public universal health care system.Bill King, Austin

Stamina, not screaming

needed on immigration

What if being tough on immigration meant having the stamina to work out comprehensive legislation that upheld our American values instead of screaming meaningless phrases like "open borders" and regurgitating racist rhetoric?Brave people confront complex, real world problems. Cowards rely on chaos to distract us from watching them run away.

Barbara Chiarello, Austin

Voters face moral choice

in 2020 elections

All of us, with our various skin tones, face a challenge. As a citizen, I must clearly state that telling four women of color to "go back" equals racial discrimination. Not only are the women legal citizens and elected representatives, they also have status as valued individuals. To discriminate against another human because of skin color becomes a matter of the heart and soul of each of us as well as our country.

The 2020 election will amount to nothing less than a war between powers that hate and those who champion the rights of every human. Will the United States emerge as a nation with a welcoming torch and fair laws or will we copy examples of the worst leaders and countries in history? It remains a question each heart has to answer. The fate of our republic lies in our individual hands. What will it be?

Barbara Frandsen, Austin

U.S. needs return to

'front door' immigration

Re: July 20 editorial cartoon, "Go back to where you came from."

The cartoonist depicts Donald Trump telling the Statue of Liberty to "Go back to where you came from." How quaint. It's as though the cartoonist was not aware that for decades upon decades, virtually every immigrant entering this country did so through the "golden" front door, within sight of that Statue of Liberty.I suggest we set aside all the tweeting -- from both sides of the aisle -- and realize the best solution to our dire situation of undocumented immigration is to return to a nationwide system of "front door" immigration, doing whatever is necessary to achieve that end.Kenneth K. Ebmeier, Round Rock

In Trump's America,

it's all about him

Following Nov. 8, 2016, Donald Trump repeatedly gloated, "I won." He didn't say that he was elected, because that would suggest other people were involved. It was all about him then and it's all about him now.

Preceding Trump's "win," 44 American presidents worked for the common good, the United States, etc. Trump can't conform to that job description because he doesn't work for anybody. He does what works for him, the whole him and nothing but the him, so help him God. If he told the truth, he would just declare that he's running for dictator of America in 2020. That's what he signed on for and if you don't get it, you can leave.Karen Stone, Austin

'Acting' titles are big

in Trump government

Our government is barely functional.

The United States will soon have an acting Labor secretary, an acting ?DHS?Department of Homeland Security secretary with no deputy secretary?cq? ?https://www.dhs.gov/leadership?, an acting White House chief of staff, an acting Customs and Border Patrol commissioner, an acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement director?ICE Director?, an acting ?USCIS?U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services director, an acting ?UN?United Nations ambassador, an acting ?FDA?Food and Drug Administration commissioner, an acting ?OMB?Office of Management and Budget director, an acting DHS under secretary for management and an acting Federal Emergency Management Agency ?FEMA?director?. P.S.? (it's hurricane season!).

The Republicans are a liability that the American people cannot afford. They should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves. And Sen. Ted Cruz, Sen. John Cornyn and Rep. Roger Williams should resign so that my generation can clean up their mess and impeach our terrible president?POTUS?.

Tim Naughton, Austin

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