To end acrimony and hypocrisy in Congress, get rid of professional politicians

This could end acrimony in Congress

With the current state of acrimony in Congress, and the level of hypocrisy on both sides of the aisle, I believe professional politicians are not helpful.

After a period of time, people serving their county seem to be more successful in acquiring wealth and access than serving their country. For the House and Senate, a 12-year term would limit power. After serving, members of Congress shouldn’t be eligible to register as lobbyists for 10 years.

One 18-year term for the Supreme Court would be helpful. We could transition the Court by having a 2020 appointee complete their term in 2038. The next appointee completes in 2040. In time, each president would appoint two justices.

Mark Murphy, Charlotte

McConnell’s antics: a disservice to the US

The Sept. 29 Forum writer is absolutely correct that a sitting president has the right to fill a Supreme Court vacancy.

Unfortunately, Mitch McConnell and Senate Republicans didn’t see it that way when Antonin Scalia died in 2016. McConnell kept that seat open 14 months. Sen. Thom Tillis suggested President Obama was a lame duck, though he had 11 months left in his term. Sen. Richard Burr suggested he’d keep Scalia’s seat open four years if Hillary Clinton won in 2016.

Now, those same senators cannot fill Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s seat fast enough even though she passed away much closer to an election than Scalia did.

McConnell’s antics to stack the court system do not serve the best interests of our country and neither does the level of hypocrisy that is being demonstrated right now.

Arnie Grieves, Charlotte

Trump condemned white supremacy

Here we go, again. In 2008, Rep. John Lewis compared John McCain’s campaign to that of George Wallace. CNN’s Don Lemon even accused McCain of inciting an environment of hate speech. President Trump has condemned white supremacy and still continues to do so. The left has cried wolf again and has now given national media coverage to fringe groups in internet chat rooms.

Gabriel Russ, Lincolnton

What I’d like to hear at the VP debate

When I listen to the debate Tuesday between Sen. Kamala Harris and Vice President Mike Pence, I hope I hear Harris ask Pence, “Have you asked President Trump to resign?” She may list the reasons, such as his lies about mail-in ballots, his “losers and suckers” comment, the tens of thousands of preventable COVID-19 deaths. Lacking that, another question: “Do you plan to exercise Section 4 of the 25th Amendment from which the power to remove the president is given to you and the principal officers of the executive departments?”

The first-debate spectacle doesn’t even need to be mentioned.

Tom Murdock, Charlotte

Unfair to place all blame on schools

I agree and disagree with former Judge Howard Manning on his assessment (Oct. 1 Opinion). Yes, some children never achieve the desired ability to read and write. Yet, that cannot be wholly heaped upon the heads of our schools.

Children whose parents read to them and model reading will have children already familiar with reading and motivated to learn themselves. Parents who don’t expose their children to the written word have already disadvantaged them. One possible solution is to guarantee that disadvantaged children enroll in system-wide pre-school programs that emphasize learning the alphabet and reading.

If parents do not prepare their children adequately, it is unwise and unfair to wholly blame our schools. Also, money does make a difference if spent on helping under-prepared children discover the life-changing joys of reading.

Margaret Howell, Charlotte

City plan made Central Ave. worse

What was the City of Charlotte thinking by making one of the lanes on each side of Central Avenue bus only? Traffic is horrendous enough during rush hours on Central Avenue and now it’s down to one lane each way? It’s bad enough that the city doesn’t account for traffic issues with new housing developments; now they really created problems. And the city wonders why there are so many traffic accidents.

Kristine Fisher, Charlotte

Make this park the city’s town square

Seeing the amazing Righteous Keitt standing by the Marshall Park fountain (Sept. 29), Charlotte’s town square, is a reminder that the planned destruction of this center city park is a colossal blunder, years in the making. Imaginative design, coupled with the existing bones of this park, could create the model of what a 21st century peoples’ town square could be — a serious boost for Charlotte’s identity while creating an amenity for the moribund surrounding area. Wake up, Charlotte.

Murray Whisnant, Charlotte

This story was originally published October 2, 2020 at 3:48 PM.