Here’s one reader’s list of questions for candidates
Where do candidates stand on these issues
Newspapers should help voters by asking candidates whether they are for or against these major issues:
▪ President Donald Trump’s policies
▪ Jobs and economic growth
▪ Socialism
▪ The border wall
▪ Providing benefits to illegal immigrants
▪ Voter ID
▪ Free health care for all
▪ Individual responsibility for one’s future
▪ Whether the government should be responsible for everyone
▪ A strong military
▪ Free college education for all
▪ Guaranteed income for all
▪ Individual responsibility for birth control and abortions
▪ Work programs to reduce the cost of welfare and food stamps
▪ Mandatory jail sentences for anyone using a gun or knife in a crime, regardless of age
▪ Mandatory jail sentences for anyone assaulting a law enforcement officer
▪ Forbidding protesters to cover their faces.
Then publish the answers two weeks before early voting begins.
— Jim Nadeau, Colleyville
Smeared by cartoonish simplicity
Next to an editorial that claims we are experiencing “almost daily reminders of the racial tensions simmering in our country” and “police confrontations with black citizens,” there is a despicable editorial cartoon by Jeff Danziger depicting fat, beer-guzzling Trump supporters joining a supposed neo-Nazi at the base of a statue of Robert E. Lee, yelling their support of it. (Aug. 15, 19A)
The majority of President Donald Trump’s supporters are not racists.
— Vicki Tidwell, Burleson
It’s all pedal to the metal
I believe there is more to the speeding-ticket problem on Chisholm Trail Parkway than inadequate signage. (Aug. 15, 1A, “Speeding on Chisholm Trail Parkway nets 20,000 tickets, warnings”)
I think people are being caught off guard by the speed limit actually being enforced. They have been lulled into a false sense of security by lax enforcement elsewhere in the region.
Speeding is pervasive all over the Metroplex, and there is not enough enforcement to deter it. If you are caught speeding, it is more a matter of bad luck than justice because 99 percent of the other speeders are getting away with it.
— Joe Wilkinson, Fort Worth
Better way to fund the garden
Charge admission to the Fort Worth Botanic Garden? (Aug. 13, 1A, “Time may be running out on free admission at Fort Worth Botanic Garden”)
Seriously? Many of us have spent a lot of time on those grounds, as kids ourselves and with our kids and our grandkids. For free.
To keep the gardens free, officials should put a kiosk in Sundance Square housing a giant strongbox with a hole in the top and roses on each side so visitors can drop in donations when they’re marveling at our home. And scatter other little strongboxes around town.
The facility has $15 million in deferred maintenance needs, I know. Do you like what you see all around you? Impressed? Then tip the city and help us keep one of our most important landmarks free and open to everyone.
It’s just the kind of thing you can close your eyes and imagine Mayor Betsy Price promoting.
Seriously. At least try it.
— Greg S. Pate, Fort Worth
Don’t damage children’s skin
My grandchildren recently visited the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History and came home showing they were exposed to too much sun.
Shades should be put up over the outdoor exhibits to protect our kids. This is not the 1990s when we believed a little sun wouldn’t hurt children.
— Cathy Briseno, Fort Worth
Ditch all the advertising
In this time of consumer-protection agencies, I submit we may need another agency to help protect us from the abuse of the repulsive, repetitive commercials that show up on many media outlets.
Could laws be passed to limit the number of commercials in a certain time period? For example, three commercials in a 30 minute period in the case of television.
I realize we can turn off the commercials or mute them, but why should we have to do that?
Another option: Why don’t cable companies offer commercial-free channels that we could purchase?
— Roy Roberts, Bedford
Give NFL players First Amendment rights
Protesting injustice, especially injustice perpetrated by government authorities, is one of the most patriotic and American things a citizen can do.
Some NFL owners and President Trump and all others would deny the protesters the right to criticize the government.
—Paul R. Schattman, Arlington