Minding business

Dear Editor,

I am responding to the recent letter about the sign. I know both men involved. They are both gentlemen and determined in their views. I am opposed to the gentleman on the left’s depiction of the spin off of the sign. He believes the economic development agencies in this county — more on them later — should be upset by the words on the sign.

Well, for his information, Donald Trump won election in this county in 2016. Half of the employed people in this country work for a small business of 50 or fewer employees. A vast majority of small business owners are conservative, right leaning, because they want lower business taxes and less strangulating regulations.

So, I would concur that most businesses would welcome the attitudes of this county, because the attitudes would be pro-business.

So, I would suggest that the gentleman on the left take a seat and listen. Listen to the gentleman on the right who started with a one-man operation and grew it to a multi-million dollar company, who over the last several decades has created dozens upon dozens of good paying jobs.

By the way, we all know the trial is a sham.

Jim Lynch

Warren

Darkness is growing

Dear Editor,

There has been an insidious darkness slowly but surely weaving its way into the fabric of America and its democracy over the past eight years, steadily eating away at its foundations and core principles like a cancer, and causing the light of this “shining city on the hill” to dim.

At the center of it all is a former president now running for a second term who continues to rile up his followers by claiming that the last election was “stolen” from him despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary — which is thus either a lie (if he knows it’s not true), or a delusion (if he truly believes it). In addition, he is already indicating he will deny the results of this next election unless he wins, thus priming his hard-core followers for yet another violent insurrection response if he loses.

This cult-like hold he seems to have over so many of his followers is astonishing, and his willingness to use it to indirectly incite them to go after his “enemies” (typically in terms of harassment and intimidation, at times even to the point of death threats) — is quite alarming. He has also hijacked, bullied, and transformed what was once the Republican Party to conform to his own insatiable needs for fealty, adoration, obedience, and power, using tactics commonly used by mob bosses.

He is quite open about his plans for a second presidency, which are clearly laid out in the plan which some of his powerful backers have developed called “Project 2025,” which would begin the transformation of our government into a more autocratic system empowering him to implement policies as he sees fit, and to follow through on his stated promise of “retribution” against those who have opposed him or not demonstrated sufficient loyalty and obedience.

This man is a clear and present danger to our democracy. He is a lifelong con man and grifter who skillfully plays on the emotions and needs of others to manipulate them, and a textbook example of a narcissistic sociopath with no moral center who believes he is above the laws and rules which apply to the rest of us. He has no capacity for true empathy, compassion, or basic human decency. He readily denies and warps facts beyond recognition to suit his own needs, coercing others to embrace his chosen “truths” to gain his approval or face his wrath. He openly praises and admires world dictators, clearly wishing to emulate them. He is now facing multiple felony indictments and charges. He has called veterans “suckers” and “losers,” and publicly mocked a disabled person on television. And these are just a few examples of countless such behaviors which could be listed here.

The fact that anyone demonstrating such an appalling lack of character has enthralled enough people to make him a viable candidate for a second run as our country’s leader is a stunningly sad, shameful and ominous turn in our nation’s history.

So please vote, and vote wisely. The fate of our great nation and its democracy is in our hands, and our votes will determine what kind of a nation we now want America to be.

Dale E. Buonocore,

Warren