The Wahkiakum County Eagle - Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891

To The Eagle:

Last week’s Eagle had two particularly well written articles.

James, to your rhetorical question of “why,” I think the answer comes down to the age-old balance beam of “fear and greed,” and then often justified with religion. When you peel the onion back, this is the political metric that is usually at the core. You call the religious aspect a cudgel, I call it a crutch. I think the last line in the other Eagle article about denial and CRT is a great example of this supposed justification.

PS: Regarding your PS: I wonder how many mask deniers would agree to a major surgery if the surgeon said it was his right to not have to wear a mask, or not wear a mask because he supposedly had some type of breathing problem (?).

Paul, I too am disappointed in some of Biden’s actions/inactions, but, not withstanding Jan 6th’s intent, we’re largely still a country wanting law, order and democracy. Just as we waited out Trump for more effective efforts, we’ll need to do the same with Biden. Hopefully most of his administration will be productive for the country.

The message in your last paragraph is often lost by many to political polarization, and taken for granted. The US doesn’t even make the world’s Top 10 now for standard of living, has the highest cost of health care per capita, has huge tax rate and income disparities, and an arguably fragile democracy. I wonder how many Americans can so arrogantly say “we’re the greatest nation on earth”(?). That is a very subjective comment. Most Scandinavians think their countries are better than ours. I have spoken first hand with Canadians and Aussies that love their countries and wouldn’t change where they live given an opportunity. Yes, Third World citizens are urgently clamoring to get into the US, but they’re trying to get into other countries as well. That urgency seems to be just getting out of their own. So, to the last line in your article, you’re right. We have a long way to go. I believe the only thing stopping the US from being the world’s leading nation again is us not being narrow minded, and not accepting adequate as sufficient.

Thanks, James and Paul for your past service to our country, and your thought provoking opinion pieces.

Bill Wainwright

Cathlamet