Letters to the Editor: Election Day is a test. Will we pass it?

Pass the exam

The speech by President Barack Obama in the virtual convention of the Democratic Party was more than a political statement. It was also a lecture by a former professor of constitutional law. The examination on the subject is scheduled for the first Tuesday after the first Monday of November, aka Election Day. Based on what we learned from the professor/president, it should not be hard to get a passing grade.

Charles F. Haywood, Lexington

Fictional ‘facts’

’I would like to see CNN and MSNBC’s fact check (oh, I am mistaken, opinion check), on the Democratic National Convention. There would be volumes of entries. What little I could stand to watch was fraught with so many lies about our president that it was unbelievable. A lot of accusations with no factual back up.

I hope that good sense will prevail when people go to the polls.

Tim Hancock, Versailles

Easy USPS fix

I have the simple, direct, and effective solution to the Post Service crisis: change the campaign finance laws. Specifically, ban all politicians and PACs from receiving any campaign donations whatsoever... except in the form of physical checks delivered exclusively via the United States Postal Service. Sen. Mitch McConnell would be shoveling funding to the USPS. Sen. Rob Portman would demand the National Guard be called out to help clear any backlog of deliveries. And Kentucky’s junior senator, ol’ Rand Paul, would be waving a “Support Your Postman” sign at the USPS vehicles as they delivered mail “20 miles down a shale road” TWICE a day.

Robert Pratt, Lexington

Postal Service

Herald-Leader opinions columnist Linda Blackford did a nice job bringing Postal Service issues to our attention. One thing not mentioned, however, has an outsized influence on postal operations. That is the 2006 prefunding mandate foisted on the service by a Republican-dominated Congress. The fact or fiction websites break the issue down nicely; the consensus being that, yes, the service is on the hook for $5 billion annually until the year 2056. Some believe that this mandate was the first attempt to destroy the service, and President Donald Trump seems intent on doing the same(by his own admission). Voters need to be mindful of this come election time; make sure to vote early.

John Scott, Lexington

Rosemond rebuttal

Thank you to the Herald-Leader for publishing Rory’s Remer’s response to John Rosemond’s “parenting” column. I always thought Rosemond cared more about maintaining some personally fulfilling dominance hierarchy than actually raising decent human beings.

I especially appreciate Remer’s point that there are no right answers. As a parent for two years, I’ve been given more advice than I’d care to remember. Some of it’s good, sure. But some of it would never work for our child. It’s entirely possible to differentiate “discipline” and “punishment”, and I don’t need my child afraid of me to follow my directions.

To be honest, I would much rather the Herald-Leader replace Rosemond’s column with different parenting voices from various different backgrounds. After all, not every has a two-parent, two-generation nuclear family, and it’s entirely possible to raise perfectly healthy people with a different structure and dynamic than Rosemond.

Bronson O’Quinn, Lexington

Mitch no help

The CARES Act helped many Americans adversely affected by the COVID-19/ economic crisis. However, the hope that the crisis would be over by summer proved to be false. In May, House Democrats passed the “HEROES Act” extending benefits through the end of 2020. They also included money to help state and local governments deal with the emergency, and money to help shore up the Postal Service.

Considering the dangers of in-person voting during a pandemic, and with the president fearing possible “voter fraud”, some of that money could be used to put safeguards in place to make sure mail-in and early voting could be done securely.

What did Sen. Mitch McConnell do with this important legislation? Nothing. He sat on it for two months. The week before benefits ran out, he presented a $1 trillion relief bill (compared to the $3 trillion HEROES Act). He then refused to negotiate, even when Democrats suggested compromising at $2 trillion.

Now, Mitch has recessed the Senate, and he has the audacity to say that the “Democrats have continued to let working families down.”

Joyce DeAeth, Lexington