The Washington Post - USA (2021-12-25)

A18 EZ RE THE WASHINGTON POST.SATURDAY, DECEMBER 25 , 2021

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

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A

T CHRISTMASTIME, the fami-

lies arrive disoriented, desperate

for a roof of their own over their

heads. Many have children but

little money and few possessions — no

furniture, no appliances, sometimes not

even IDs. They are hoping for a seasonal

miracle of kindness.

Tens of thousands of Afghans, airlifted

from Kabul over the summer, are now

trickling into communities across our

country. Nearly all are Muslims, shifted

suddenly into neighborhoods and towns

bedecked with Yuletide lights and daz-

zling displays of commerce.

Imagine their culture shock, not

knowing a Safeway from a Sonic, a

Walmart from a Walgreens. Christmas

trees are a novelty, and they are every-

where. The English language is a daily

mountain to climb.

This Christmas, spare a thought for an

influx, happening quietly all around us,

of people traumatized by war and an exit

from their homeland so fearful and sud-

den that loved ones were often left

behind. Right now, the United States is in

the midst of resettling Afghan evacuees

at a rate of as many as 4,000 per week,

with a goal of beginning to assimilate

nearly 75,000 of them in six months into

towns, cities and suburbs.

Many of those places have robust job

markets but overwhelmingly unafford-

able housing markets. Some of the Af-

ghans, the lucky ones, have received visas

that entitle them to an array of federal

government benefits to help with those

sky-high housing prices — as well as with

job training, cash, medical care and food.

But most were admitted to the country

under so-called humanitarian parole, an

emergency designation that entitles

them to precious little help beyond the

right to live and work here, for just two

years. And a good number arrived with-

out a single document, having destroyed

them for fear they would be a death

warrant if discovered by the Taliban.

Now, lacking any ID, they face a murky

path to asylum, let alone permanent legal

status.

Here’s hoping in this season of fellow-

ship that these latest “tempest-tost” — to

use the words poet Emma Lazarus appro-

priated from Shakespeare to inscribe on

the Statue of Liberty — find there is room

for them in our countrymen’s hearts. So

far, the signs are encouraging. Resettle-

ment agencies, gutted in the Trump years

when refugee admissions were slashed to

historic lows, are overwhelmed but staff-

ing up as fast as they can. In far-flung

places around the nation, there is little

political pushback as the evacuees be-

come more numerous and visible.

One reason is that U.S. veterans, for-

mer soldiers and Marines, have their

backs. Having fought side by side with

and depended critically on their Afghan

interpreters, fixers and guides, those

veterans are going to bat for their former

comrades in arms, officials say. In Repub-

lican communities such as Tulsa, as in

Democratic ones like Northern Virginia,

some of the arriving evacuees may be

nearly penniless, but they are not with-

out allies and advocates.

Let this Christmas, these Afghans’

first, be a moment when they tap into this

country’s innate generosity, so that the

American Dream is as successful for

them as it has been for so many who

arrived before them.

Seeking a miracle of kindness

Thousands of Afghans are welcomed to America at Christmas.

T

WICE IN recent days, former

president Donald Trump has spo-

ken out more aggressively about

the value of vaccines. Reluctance

to get the shot still grips millions of

Americans, and Mr. Trump’s public com-

ments might help persuade the holdouts

among his followers, many of whom are

suspicious of evidence that the coronavi-

rus vaccines are safe and effective.

On Sunday night in Dallas, during the

final stop of a live interview show with

former Fox News host Bill O’Reilly,

Mr. Trump said he had gotten a booster.

The audience booed him. “Don’t! Don’t!

Don’t! Don’t! Don’t!” Mr. Trump told the

crowd, waving off their reaction with his

hand. In an interview published Dec. 22

with conservative Daily Wire host Can-

dace Owens, who is a leading purveyor of

anti-vaccine conspiracy theories,

Mr. Trump took credit for the vaccines as

“one of the greatest achievements of man-

kind.” He added, “Look, the results of the

vaccine are very good, and if you do get it,

it’s a very minor form” of covid-19. “People

aren’t dying when they take the vaccine.”

Mr. Trump can justly claim credit for

having launched Operation Warp Speed,

the successful crash effort to develop and

manufacture the coronavirus vaccines.

His latest comments properly drew nods

of approval from President Biden and the

White House press secretary, Jen Psaki.

We should not forget Mr. Trump’s dis-

astrous 2020 response to the pandemic,

from his denial that the virus would

spread, to his support for useless drugs,

to his calls to “liberate” states from lock-

downs and his destructive political med-

dling in public health agencies. The Dec.

17 year-end staff report of the House

select subcommittee on the coronavirus

crisis, chaired by Rep. James E. Clyburn

(D-S.C.), documents some of Mr. Trump’s

“critical failures.” These include his em-

brace of Scott Atlas, the Hoover Institu-

tion neuroradiologist and Fox News com-

mentator who, before vaccines, argued

that viral spread would create “herd

immunity,” and who was against lock-

downs and other restrictions.

The panel released a revealing email

from Deborah Birx, the White House

coronavirus response coordinator, on

Aug. 25, 2020, refusing to attend a White

House roundtable organized by Dr. Atlas.

“I can’t be part of this with these people

who believe in herd immunity and be-

lieve we are fine with only protecting the

1.5M Americans in LTCF [long-term care

facilities] and not the 80M+ with comor-

bidities,” Dr. Birx wrote, warning of hun-

dreds of thousands more deaths if mitiga-

tions such as masks and social distancing

were not advanced. Of the Atlas group,

she wrote, “They are a fringe group with-

out grounding in epidemics, public

health or on the ground common sense

experience.”

They were also advising the president

of the United States, whose response to

the pandemic was marked by deception

and personal irresponsibility, including

testing positive three days before a presi-

dential debate and not saying so, carrying

on his campaign and schedule, and en-

dangering all those with whom he came

in contact. Adding his voice to the drive to

assure Americans get vaccinated — and

specifically targeting many of his reluc-

tant supporters — will not erase the

record, but it is overdue and welcome.

Shout-outs

for shots

all matter

Even the ones

from Mr. Trump.

When Virginia first considered joining

the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, it

was a concrete requirement that electric

utilities reduce their use of fossil fuels.

With the passage of the 2020 Virginia

Clean Economy Act, far more stringent

controls were put into place. RGGI’s weak-

er carbon dioxide targets became moot.

One must assume the Dec. 19 editorial de-

manding that Virginia continue this use-

less and redundant strategy, “A terrible

climate mistake,” was motivated by at-

tachment to the tax revenue. It noted that

the tax now imposed on all Dominion

Energy customers is set to reach $50 to

$60 per year. That was more honest than

the Dec. 19 Local Opinions essay by Wal-

ton C. Shepherd, “A real opportunity for

Youngkin to lead,” in which he claimed the

money comes from “large polluters.” No, it

comes from regular folks — our homes

and businesses, schools and churches —

collected on monthly bills.

And with the VCEA in place reducing

use of fossil fuels even faster, RGGI now

does nothing. It is just a profitable virtue

signal. It is also a distraction.

The real question facing Virginia (and

worrying Mr. Shepherd) is whether the

new governor and next General Assembly

will revisit the statute with actual teeth

and more massive additional cost to con-

sumers. RGGI is a sideshow. Will Virginia

dump the VCEA?

Stephen Dudley Haner, Henrico, Va.

The writer is a senior fellow at

the Thomas Jefferson Institute

for Public Policy.

No initiative to remain

Immediate follow-up is needed to the

Dec. 15 front-page article “Destabilized

poles endanger rest of the planet, re-

search shows” that warned total collapse

of the Thwaites Glacier could result in

several feet of sea-level rise endangering

communities in coastal areas. What a

powerful follow-up it would be to add a

countdown clock to the daily front-page

weather summary so readers can’t forget

this cataclysmic event is coming and the

need for immediate action. “Today:

Cloudy 58/45. 1,818 days until Thwaites

collapse.”

Nancy Ilgenfritz, Bethesda

The impending collapse

The otherwise excellent Dec. 11 editori-

al “A pep rally for democracy” played

down, as has much of the Biden adminis-

tration when speaking of democracy, the

fundamental moral rationale for democ-

racy: the moral equality of all people. So

much of the discussion promoting de-

mocracy rather than other forms of gov-

ernment centers on its effectiveness.

As important as making the trains run

on time is, democracy’s effectiveness, as

imperfect as it is, in providing justice is

even more important. The moral ideal is

inherent in the phrase carved above the

entrance to the Supreme Court: “equal

justice under law.” In making the case for

democracy, Reinhold Niebuhr’s famous

aphorism, “Man’s capacity for justice

makes democracy possible, but man’s

inclination toward injustice makes de-

mocracy necessary,” expresses the ten-

sion required for expanding the freedom

intrinsic in our Constitution. I believe

this moral quality will animate our de-

fense of democracy more effectively than

any utilitarian argument can.

Lowell Larry Pullen, Ashburn

Moral equality of all people

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philosophy that is neither Republican nor

Democratic, but old and tired. The school

of thought that contends poor people and

minorities require oversight lest they run

amok while wealthy people and corpora-

tions require representation has been

with us from the time of our founding.

Mr. Manchin is simply an example of how

such presumptive entitlement continues

to infest our politics regardless of political

affiliation.

Much is being made of the apparent

fecklessness of his negotiations of the

Build Back Better Act. The more telling, if

less politically salacious, story is in his

willingness to hide behind a claim of

fiscal responsibility in public but speak

the quiet part out loud to colleagues. His

“concern” that beneficiaries of the child

tax credit will use financial stability as a

foundation for chemical addiction rather

than economic recovery belies a deeply

cynical and paternalistic philosophy of

false benevolence that should be retired

from our politics altogether. Similarly, his

assumption that his constituents would

use paid leave to go deer-hunting is deep-

ly insulting to them and a clear indication

he feels entitled to make choices for oth-

ers based on his prejudices, rather than

respecting their freedom to make choices

for themselves based on their experiences

or circumstances.

This brand of conceit has hindered our

potential economically, socially and politi-

cally for too long. It’s entirely appropriate

that Mr. Manchin is being publicly ad-

monished for his disingenuousness. It is

inappropriate, however, that he uses his

vote to punish millions of people for his

own discomfort with that truth.

Elizabeth Palmer, Wiscasset, Maine

If West Virginia voters’ support for

coal miners compels Sen. Joe Manchin III

(D-W.Va.) to scuttle environmental legisla-

tion aimed at phasing out coal, why not

simply pay coal miners not to mine

coal? Decades ago, when we wanted to save

the family farm from overproduction and

preserve capacity for when it might be

needed, we paid farmers not to plant

wheat. If not mining coal is now a social

good, then society should pay for it. Last

year, we had 43,000 coal miners, earning

median salaries of about $54,000 per year.

For $2.3 billion, we could pay each of them

that amount not to mine coal, phased in as

they dropped out of that workforce, until

they started earning more elsewhere or

became eligible for Social Security. For an

additional couple billion, we could supple-

ment the earnings of the some 50,000 min-

ers who have lost coal jobs since the last

peak in 2011 to that same level. Call it

$5.5 billion a year, or $55 billion over

10 years, to ransom the $550 billion worth

of energy and climate programs in Presi-

dent Biden’s Build Back Better bill.

The numbers are only ballpark and

pricey, to be sure. But a small price to pay

to build critical constituencies for climate

legislation.

Vincent J. Canzoneri, Newton, Mass.

Regarding the Dec. 20 front-page arti-

cles “Manchin rejects social policy bill”

and “Senator deals blow to Biden’s climate

agenda”:

It’s amazing how Sen. Joe Manchin III’s

(D-W.Va.) resistance to his party’s plat-

forms seems to favor his coal mining

enterprise(s), which he knows nothing

about.

Santiago Testa, Washington

Former senator Robert Byrd

(D-W.Va.) must be turning over in his

grave. He did so much for the peo-

ple of West Virginia. Sen. Joe Manchin III

(D-W.Va.), it seems, is more interested

in his coal business and pleasing Republi-

cans. President Biden’s bill is exactly what

is needed in West Virginia, one of the

poorest states in the nation.

The Republicans who “quickly delight-

ed in the news” should go to West Vir-

ginia to see the people to whom they are

denying much-needed help. In October

(National Dental Hygiene Month),

many dentists and staff give free den-

tal care in parts of West Virginia, and

people line up the night before for treat-

ment. Many people have no health insur-

ance, work in jobs without benefits, etc.

The Build Back Better Act would

help so many people better their lives.

Marie Snowden, Middletown

Sen. Joe Manchin III’s (D-W.Va.) pag-

eant of fiscal virtue signaling offers thin

cover for an increasingly obvious political

Mr. Manchin’s resistance

Dana Milbank’s Dec. 19 Sunday Opin-

ion column quoted political science pro-

fessor Barbara F. Walter as saying “we are

closer to civil war than many of us would

like to believe.” The cause is the Republi-

can Party’s blatant attempt throughout

the nation to promote racist authoritari-

anism by disenfranchising voters of col-

or. The overarching goal at both the state

and federal levels is government by mi-

nority rule.

Republicans have either forgotten

Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address,

or worse, have come to reject its message.

Lincoln began by noting that we are a

nation “conceived in liberty and dedicat-

ed to the proposition that all men are

created equal.” He concluded by calling

on Americans to pledge themselves to the

proposition “that government of the peo-

ple, by the people, for the people, shall

not perish from the earth.”

Minority rule is unavoidably antidem-

ocratic. Perhaps the next two federal

elections will reject Trumpism. If not,

dark times will befall us. This nation

fought a civil war to preserve the union

and abolish slavery and fought two world

wars to protect democracy. It is unimagi-

nable that we would allow one of our

political parties to end true democracy

without a mighty battle.

Those whom the Republicans want to

disenfranchise will not passively lament

the loss of their right to be heard fairly.

Mr. Milbank’s column was right. If the

Republicans are successful in destroying

democracy, civil war will be unavoidable.

Donald S. Coburn, Monterey, Mass.

Forgetting Lincoln’s words

THE SUPREME COURT

I can’t help but wonder why Thomas

B. Griffith and David F. Levi bothered to

write on how not to reform the Supreme

Court [“We served on the high court

commission. Term limits and court-

packing are bad ideas.,” op-ed, Dec. 13].

In having joined the administration’s

commission — which was tasked with

studying and evaluating the recommen-

dations of diverse experts — they implic-

itly ratified a need for change. Yet they

had nothing at all to say about

what should be done.

Mr. Griffith and Mr. Levi repeatedly

emphasized the importance of maintain-

ing the rule of law. But, at the current

court, there is no rule of law. This is not

hyperbole. Just one of many examples:

Pre-viability abortion is a constitutional

right, as stipulated by the Supreme Court

in its Roe and Casey rulings. Yet twice in

the past few months, the court has al-

lowed to stand Texas’s S.B. 8, which

proscribes abortion after a mere six

weeks — long before viability. In other

words, the Supreme Court justices

shrugged twice at a state law that brazen-

ly defies their institution’s jurisprudence.

Mr. Griffith and Mr. Levi repeatedly

extolled the “impartial judge.” Are they

referring to the impartial judges who

turned a blind eye to extreme Republican

gerrymandering, which forces Demo-

cratic majorities to exceed 55 percent to

win? Decisions that expand the free exer-

cise clause — as long as the religion being

exercised is Christian? Decisions that

allow corporations and cash to speak

louder than people?

Mr. Griffith and Mr. Levi aren’t rear-

ranging the deck chairs on the Titanic;

they’re snoozing in them.

Daniel Fleisher, Baltimore

Thomas B. Griffith and David F. Levi

gave clear and concise reasons that the

strength and resilience of our democracy

permit us to continue the size, independ-

ence and current state of the Supreme

Court. In other words: Don’t fix it, it ain’t

broke.

Bob Orlosky, Fairfax Station

Neither the Supreme Court commis-

sion report nor the coverage I’ve read

has named the actual problem: forum

shopping. Litigants naturally want to be

in front of the most favorable jurists, or

as it’s described, picking their judge and,

therefore, their chosen result.

Lower courts routinely assign cases to

judges randomly to foil this pernicious

practice. The current Supreme Court

situation is forum shopping on steroids.

The litigants in particular cases prob-

ably intend to lose in every court below

as quickly as possible to reach their

chosen judges. We can stop this without

changing how the Supreme Court hears

cases by not expanding the court, but

rather, extending it: three panels of the

current nine-justice format, with cases

randomly assigned. Perhaps an en banc

option for serious matters. Cases are still

heard by nine justices; it’s just that the

litigants don’t know which panel they’ll

get. And without that assured outcome,

the current charade pretending to be

justice can be ended.

Bill Kalish,

Alexandria

Evaluating the commission charged with dispassionately assessing the independent court

IMAGE COURTESY OF THE PRINTS PHOTOGRAPHS DIVISION/LIBRARY OF CONGRESS; © HERB BLOCK FOUNDATION

Today we republish a cartoon by Herblock that first appeared in 1954.