2020 Dems want to lower the voting age. That’s a bad idea.
Dem’s idea to lower voting age is bad
A federal appeals court is now considering whether one of the two murderers who killed 10 strangers in the 2002 D.C. sniper case should have his life sentence reviewed. The contention is that because he was 17 when he killed 10 people he should have his sentence reduced because he lacked the requisite judgment to know better due to “the transient immaturity of youth.”
Several Democrats now running for president propose lowering the voting age to 16, younger than the D.C. sniper when he committed his murders.
It takes far more maturity to make informed decisions in casting votes than to know that murder is wrong.
Phil Van Hoy, Charlotte
Hate is contagious; Trump spreads it
Donald Trump doesn’t think that white nationalism is a rising threat around the world.
So as not to alienate white nationalists among his populist movement, he was careful not to condemn the shooting deaths of 49 Muslims in Christchurch, New Zealand as the act of a self-described white nationalist.
Trump describes people who flee crime-ridden, war-torn, and destabilized countries as criminals, terrorists, killers and invaders. His words and actions are stoking anti-immigrant hate and Islamophobia throughout the world.
Hate is contagious.
Joseph Salerno, Charlotte
Don’t let Trump’s rants divide society
President Trump’s continued vitriolic rants serve only to inspire his base supporters to a fever pitch equal to other extremists and their accomplishments – groups and individuals – jihadists, Isis, Nazism,Putin, Hitler, Stalin, Kim Jong Un, etc.
It is getting worse. This is not just differing political views. Please, decent, intelligent people, be vocal in your abhorrence to this societal schism of Trump’s creation.
Wally Lingerfelt, Iron Station
2020 Dems must appeal to the middle
Despite the laurels and flourishes given to the fringe candidates of the Democratic Party by the mass and social media, it is well to remind the Democratic Party that it must appeal to the moderate independent voter if it hopes to regain the White House.
Radical “poster child” candidates with their divisive rancor and coded bigoted language supposedly to fight bigotry will only serve to aid the re-election of President Trump and stall much needed reform.
President Obama stated that our democracy is an ocean liner and not a speed boat. This observation should be heeded by the Democratic Party.
John Michalski, Gastonia
Those grass clippings are a real danger
In response to Our View “NC Republicans have their eye on your ... lawn?” (March 21 Editorial):
Getting grass clippings added to the list of “stuff you will not leave in the road” is the result of years of effort by people who care about motorcycle safety.
Even a thin layer of grass clippings can be like riding on ice.
Sliding isn’t the only hazard either. Vehicles stir those clippings into the air. A tiny piece of grass in the eye can result in a crash. I know most people drive giant, hermetically sealed SUVs and ignore the world around them. But some of us drive convertibles and have the windows down in our hard-top cars. Grass clippings in the eyes are dangerous.
Try riding a motorcycle with your eyes squinted so tight you can barely see while holding your breath and hoping you don’t slide down.
Alan Dockery, Newton
Brooklyn Village park is way too small
In response to “Plans for uptown’s $638M Brooklyn Village project moving ahead but not fast” (March 21):
For the proposed Brooklyn Village project to include only a 1.6 acre park is embarrassing. My yard is bigger than 1.6 acres.
Again it appears we do not need a county commission when it is obvious that the developers run the city of Charlotte.
Dick Meyer, Charlotte
NC must push for shared parenting
The writer is president of KidsNeed2Parents.
KN2P and other groups statewide have tried to fix our family court system for over 10 years.
Because about a third of our children in grades K-12 live without their biological fathers and because mothers win custody about 85 percent of the time, we have continually lobbied our legislators to modernize North Carolina’s custody law to “shared parenting,” absent proven abuse or neglect.
Why have our legislators not yet done this? Kentucky did so last year, and more states are trending in this direction.
Sheila Peltzer, Charlotte