You wanted higher wages, products made in America? Then you better accept inflation

Did this make things better?

You asked for an increase in minimum wages. which led to an overall increase in pay. That increase has been passed on to consumers.

You wanted to bring manufacturing back to American-made. You forgot why we bought Chinese goods in the first place: cheaper prices.

All this has contributed to higher inflation rates. And now you complain about the higher inflation rates.

You asked for it and you’ve got it.

- Veronica Ritchey, Burleson

Reclaim our founders’ hope

As we watch gerrymandering, Texas’ book and word censorship and voting restrictions — all assaults on democracy — we must ask if we really believe in democracy.

Have we ever been a democracy? The three-fifths compromise? Centuries of enslaving our fellow humans? Rebellion and civil war? Reconstruction, Jim Crow, lynchings? The KKK? Now, when 40% of the population controls 60% or more of votes in the Senate?

We have never truly been “democratic.” Yet the founding documents say what they say. It’s not too late to acknowledge our past and begin honestly correcting our immoral history. We can live our ideals, those awe-inspiring aspirations of self-evident truths and that all people are created equal.

- Mike Morgan, Hurst

Bigotry is no kind of Christian value

Christianity has traditionally upheld the primacy of two principles: “Do to others as you would have others do to you” and “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Former Farmers Branch Mayor Tim O’Hare spent more than $6.5 million in a failed, racist campaign to stop landlords from renting to noncitizens, subsequently overturned by a federal court. In Southlake, O’Hare brags of helping found the Families PAC to stop a school diversity and inclusion plan.

Now this so-called Christian wants us to elect him to the office that oversees all of Tarrant County. (Feb. 13, 5A, “In Texas Republican primaries, it may come down to this: How conservative are you?”) Support decency and Christian principles by voting for any other candidate for county judge.

- Robert J. Vann II, Fort Worth

Russia’s thumb on the scales

I hardly ever agree with Mac Engel, but his column Wednesday hit the nail on the head. (1B, “Olympics double standard allows Valieva to keep skating”) It should have been on the front page. If the International Olympic Committee is going to let Russia get away with running the Olympics, what’s the point in even participating?

I’m sorry for all the time and money that athletes from the U.S. and other countries have spent working their butts off just for cheaters to come out on top. How many years have the Russians been cheating? It’s embarrassing that we continue to put up with this.

- Lynn Miller, Granbury

Remember what your rights are

As you vote, remember that each elected official takes an oath to uphold and defend the U.S. and/or Texas Constitution. As you educate yourself, please take the time to consider if any of those holding office infringed on your God-given, constitutionally protected rights during the pandemic. Also, consider if any candidates are willing to strictly follow the Constitution.

These are important factors after we have navigated two years of mask mandates, vaccine mandates and business closures. Remember that some in our community were denied the right to earn a living because their businesses were deemed “non-essential.”

- Jennifer Williams, Weatherford

I don’t believe in ‘abortion care’

I find it interesting how pro-choice advocates love to use euphemisms such as “abortion care” to justify the clear destruction of an innocent human child. (Feb. 15, 4A, “Texas abortion clinics struggling to keep up”)

First, the struggle to keep up has little to do with Senate Bill 8 and much to do with the business model of the Whole Woman’s Health clinics. The heartbeat law does not control the numbers of staff or customers. If Whole Woman’s Health really cared about these women, it could keep the same staffing and hours it had before the heartbeat bill went into effect.

For whose care does abortion provide? Except in very rare cases, how is a mother’s health improved by abortion?

- Mark Carter, Fort Worth

This story was originally published February 20, 2022 at 5:00 AM.