2A Deeply Rooted Story
This is just a short note to say thank
you for Zoë Carpenter’s article “The
Standing of Trees” [March 2/9], about
Richard Powers and his book The
Overstory. As an amateur botanist, I
was particularly delighted. The article
made my day (and week). Plus, I was
thrilled to learn the good news that
Powers is working on another book.
Elizabeth Pullman
austin, tex.The Iowa Debacle
Democratic Party leaders and orga-
nizers should all read the late Jeffrey
Cox’s editorial “Iowa Was Just the
Start” in the March 2/9 issue of The
Nation. Then they should think about
it—and read it again.
The debacle of the Iowa caucuses
was much more than an embar-
rassment. It was a snapshot of how
dysfunctional the leadership of the
current Democratic Party is. And it
illustrated just how far the party lags
the Trump campaign in preparing for
the 2020 election. It is time for the
Democrats to unite around a clear
understanding of who they are really
fighting against and to act together
to mount a successful campaign.
Will Keller
mesa, ariz.The Forgotten Foreign Policy
Reading David Klion’s article “The
Woman Behind Elizabeth Warren’s
Foreign Policy” [March 2/9] made me
realize how little discussion there has
been during the current presidential
race of US policy toward Latin Amer-
ica (and how little foreign policy there
is in our political discourse in general).
It is only when a country runs afoul
of Washington and is then punished
with onerous sanctions or threats
of invasion that it’s deemed worthy
of mention, often in one-sided screeds
that are more propaganda than usefulinformation. The uninformed public
never makes the connection between
the asylum seekers at our southwest-
ern border and our catastrophic Cen-
tral American policies.
Nevertheless, since the turn of the
20th century, this country’s constant
interference in the internal affairs of
the nations south of the Rio Grande
has kept them in a subservient role,
creating the opportunity for bloody
right-wing dictatorial regimes, cor-
ruption, and the perpetuation of rule
by wealthy elites. Many attempts to
introduce progressive economic pol-
icies in Latin America have resulted
in coups d’état. And both Democratic
and Republican administrations have
been implicated.
Some of the candidates in our
current presidential campaign are
advocating progressive political and
economic changes, and that is a good
thing. However, I am not sure they
include the rest of the hemisphere in
their equation, thereby missing an op-
portunity to end a supreme injustice.
Ada Bello
philadelphiaThey’ve Crossed a Line
I was sickened and outraged to read
Morley Musick’s article “Meet the
Boy Scouts of the Border Patrol”
[February 3]. “The age-old games
of cowboys and Indians or cops and
robbers have simply been harnessed
for a modern, state-run, militarized
equivalent: border guards and immi-
grants,” he writes. I guess it shouldn’t
surprise me that someone came up
with the idea to recruit young peo-
ple into the Border Patrol’s ranks by
putting a patriotic stamp on it. What
does surprise me is that some of the
recruits are first-generation immi-
grants themselves.
Debra-Lou Hoffmann
forest ranch, calif.MARCH 2/9, 2020 THENATION.COM[email protected]STACEY ABRAMS
MARGARET ATWOOD CHARLES
M. BLOW SHERROD BROWN
NOAM CHOMSKY GAIL COLLINS
MIKE DAVIS ELIZABETH DREW
BARBARA EHRENREICH
DANIEL ELLSBERG FRANCES
FITZGERALD ERIC FONER
THOMAS FRANK HENRY LOUIS
GATES JR. MICHELLE GOLDBERG
AMY GOODMAN CHRIS HAYES
MARGO JEFFERSON DAVID
CAY JOHNSTON NAOMI KLEIN
RACHEL KUSHNER VIET THANH
NGUYEN NORMAN LEAR GREIL
MARCUS JANE MAYER BILL
MCKIBBEN WALTER MOSLEY
JOHN NICHOLS LAWRENCE
O’DONNELL LAURA POITRAS
KATHA POLLITT ROBERT
REICH JOY REID FRANK RICH
ARUNDHATI ROY BERNIE
SANDERS ANNA DEAVERE
SMITH EDWARD SNOWDEN
REBECCA SOLNIT MARGARET
TAL B OT CALVIN TRILLIN
KATRINA VANDEN HEUVEL
YANIS VAROUFAKIS JOAN
WALSH AMY WILENTZ GARY
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