Waiting for apology
In a Daily News column of April 23, Todd Broadman envisions a Moscow where community members can put aside their grievances with Doug Wilson’s Christ Church. After the controversy about his slavery book, I want to explain why I, at least, am not ready for this Kumbaya moment.
The book was a shock to me and the rest of the community. Doug was a philosophy major in my department, and he took most of my classes. We had friendly debates about religion, and he wrote a fine master’s thesis on C. S. Lewis and the freedom of the will.
At one time Doug and I were neighbors, and we continued our debates over the proverbial fence. We both had young daughters and, as mine was a bit older, my wife and I gifted our industrial-grade baby carriage to the Wilsons. Sometimes I think about how that sturdy baby buggy must have made its way through many Christ Church families.
In 1994, Doug established New St. Andrews College, and I was invited to speak at one of their weekly convocations. My topic was “Confucius and the Aesthetics of Virtue.” My talk was well received, and I challenged the students to think about Christian virtue ethics.
In 2007 Christ Church member Paul Kimmell gave a presentation on leadership to the Moscow Chamber of Commerce. He praised Robert E. Lee as an example of a good leader. He concluded his PowerPoint with the juxtaposition of Old Glory and the Confederate Battle Flag.
I challenged Kimmell to apologize for this outrage and he did. I have since had the opportunity to commend him in person for this gesture.
I am eagerly awaiting that moment when, taking a cue from Kimmell, Doug confesses his sins about the disruptions he has caused in our good town.
Nick Gier
Moscow
Trump and Biden
In response to Kirk Koefod, who thinks that my April 25 column, “A needed intervention for Trump enthusiasts,” applies equally well to Biden and Democrats: congratulations on your brilliant “I know you are, but what am I” defense. Very impressive. So much more persuasive than even attempting a cogent counterargument. But, as we all know, facts, logic and thinking are all a liberal conspiracy. It’s blind faith, gut feeling and mindless repetition of slogans that constitute truth.
I don’t suppose it matters that Biden doesn’t engage in juvenile bullying, embarrassing social media posts or disparaging the United States at every turn. That he comports himself with basic decency and integrity, that he’s a functional adult and effective politician, or that Democrats have never been slavishly loyal to Biden the way Republicans are to Trump and hence almost nothing about my article could apply to Biden. (You know nearly all of us voted for Biden because it was the only way to vote “anything but Trump,” right?) “Our side good, other side bad” may not be a particularly nuanced political philosophy, but it certainly makes up for it in stark simplicity and parsimony.
Nonetheless, I do want to thank you for your acknowledgment that Democrats are “hard-working, decent, honest, freedom-loving Americans.” It’s very brave for a conservative to finally come out and say what we all know to be true. Maybe we’re not so far apart after all.
Ryan Urie
Moscow
Not fooling anyone
On May 2, letter writer Timothy Moore starts by writing that “a couple of my recent letters have been withheld from publication because the Opinion page editor suggested that their content might contain ‘antisemitic’ sentiments.” He then proceeds to feign ignorance of the fact that the word “antisemitic” means “anti-Jewish” and to praise by the end some Jews of whom he approves, thus successfully getting another letter published.
Clever maneuver? No, just old and see-through tactics. Mr. Moore, no one is fooled.
Miriam Hertz
Moscow
Name no longer fits
I am a 9-year-old girl and I love reading your newspapers (especially the comics).
But I think that it’s unfair that you are changing the schedule to two days a week for the same price and your name is Daily News and your newspaper is not daily anymore. I think that you should either make the price lower or keep delivering almost every day.
Agnes Ruth Becker
Moscow
Up is not down
I am not going to debate who was the better president. But I do want to respond to two of letter writer Larry Kitkland’s accusations.
First, the national debt: Yes, it has continued to go up, but the more important measure of the debt is its relation to the gross domestic product, or GDP. When Biden took office, the national debt had jumped to 14.5% of GDP, but that was because the economy had all but collapsed during the pandemic years. The administrations of Trump and Biden had to do things to get the economy going again. This last year, the national debt was 6.3% of the GDP. Still historically higher than usual, but it is going down.
We do need a tax restructuring to reduce the debt, but it has to start with the House of Representatives — I almost said, “Republicans.”
Larry also claims Biden is about to give American sovereignty over to the World Health Organization. I think Larry is referring to the Zero Draft treaty about to be proposed at the next WHO conclave. That rumor started by a Chinese-controlled Epoch Times and it has been repeated in the Republican Noise Machine for the past couple of years.
What does the Zero Draft say about sovereignty? From Article 4 of the treaty: “States have, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and the principles of international law, the sovereign right to determine and manage their approach to public health, notably pandemic prevention, preparedness, response and recovery of health systems, pursuant to their own policies and legislation, provided that activities within their jurisdiction or control do not cause damage to their peoples and other countries. Sovereignty also covers the rights of States over their biological resources.”
Up is not down, Larry.
Wayne Beebe
Pullman
