Send those planes and buses of migrants to NC. We need workers. | Opinion

Border solution

It is clear that there is a worker shortage in our communities. There are over 10 million job openings in the United States.

What is bothersome about this issue is that there is a solution staring us in the face and we refuse to see it. There are thousands of people waiting at our southern border to get a job and provide for their families. This is a win-win solution. It gives relief to border state budgets while filling a need for workers locally.

Businesses and everyone should contact their state representatives and demand they put aside petty politics to make our communities better. Send those planes and buses to North Carolina.

Darrell Sigmon, Conover

Power outages

A lot has been written about the holiday power outages. Most of the finger-pointing is at Duke Energy, but no one has addressed the elephant in the room — the fact that the state continues to allow thousand of new homes to be built with insufficient regard to infrastructure, be it roads or power grids. Infrastructure simply can’t keep up with demand. The problem isn’t Duke Energy, it’s greed. The future looks dim.

Mike Hancock, Maiden

From Dan Bishop

Regarding “A new GOP star may be rising, and it’s bad news for North Carolina,” (Dec. 23 Editorial):

Thanks for detailing so extensively the national attention paid to my commentary on the $1.7 trillion omnibus appropriations bill. Who knows how many of the 24 million views of my team’s Twitter thread were logged by your editorial board!

You dived deeply into the likes and shares and replies from Elon Musk. And then you elaborated on the media interviews that followed, including Tucker Carlson Tonight (down to Tucker’s facial expression) and Matt Gaetz’s Firebrand podcast.

When you got around to remembering my six-year-old tweets and calling me a “savvy” ”rising star” and “smart legislator,” it started seeming a little weird. But by concluding that my communications about the most expensive bill this year, passed at the last minute by a lame-duck Congress, were just a “stunt” that made you “cringe,” you definitely showed I’m not living rent free in your heads.

Don’t worry about the 90% of commenters who ridiculed you. You never do.

U.S. Rep. Dan Bishop

Discomfort is OK

Regarding “Washington didn’t label America a ‘Christian nation,’” (Dec. 23 Opinion)

Making our children uncomfortable at school by discussing issues that have plagued our country and the world for generations is absolutely necessary. These discussions can obviously take place appropriately for each grade level.

If our discomfort is the price to pay to make our communities safer, more loving, more accepting of our differences, then so be it. Let us be uncomfortable, let us ask questions, let us listen to each other’s stories.

It is not too late to write the story of America as it was meant to be. The story of those different threads woven together to make this unique fabric of human beings looking at this country and at each other with wonder and respect, and yes, love. That is America.

Veronique Singerman, Mooresville

Latta Place

I read with interest the Jan. 3 article regarding future plans for Latta Place, with emphasis on the lives of slaves. James Latta was my great great great grandfather. I had never heard of him until the 1970s when I was active in the restoration of Latta Place.

I am indeed very sorry that my ancestors were slaveholders; that cannot be rectified. I am clearly in favor of the plans to reinvent Latta Place. I hope, however, that James Latta will be looked upon and remembered as something more than “slave owner.” He was also a husband, loving father, merchant, farmer/planter, churchman, and an upright citizen.

It is my hope that this new endeavor will meet with success, achieving its goals and bringing some measure of satisfaction to all whose lives continue to be affected by the institution of slavery.

Virginia Johnston Horn, Charlotte

Congress

After so many attempts at being elected Speaker of the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy looks like a lost soul. The point, however, is that this Congress eventually has to work for the American people. It seems clear to me that this Republican Party is in deep trouble. The party is just digging a deeper hole that soon will be very difficult to climb out of. The American people seek and demand real leadership from the majority party for the benefit of the people — you and me.

Jeff Kanner, Tega Cay

Vetting candidates

Who is responsible for vetting politicians as they run for office? It can’t be the responsibility of the voter to sort through resumes and references. It seems the party the candidate represents should be doing this.

The Republican Party’s national leadership failed N.Y. constituents when it allowed George Santos to run in the first place. Kevin McCarthy is now stuck with another huge blemish to what was once a great party and now a joke.

Phil Solomon, Charlotte

This story was originally published January 8, 2023 at 5:30 AM.