Letters to the editor (Aug. 28, 2018)

Constitutional Amendment

“The time has come, the walrus said, to speak of many things.” — Alice In Wonderland

Near the end of the Nixon presidency the so-called “midnight massacre” was a beacon warning us of dangerous rocks ahead. In retrospect, it suggested that we should have considered adjusting our Constitution. We ignored that warning and somehow avoided disaster, comforted by “All is well that ends well.”

Today, our president’s increasingly frantic attempt to bring the Department of Justice to heel is yet another sweep of the beacon warning of a peril that, without intervention, we will continue to encounter the future.

Without direct reference to the current brouhaha and regardless of the glacial nature of the process required to make meaningful change, it is time to start. A calm and collegial discussion among Americans of all political persuasions is called for to seriously explore whether or not the durability of our beloved Republic would be better served by an amendment to our Constitution that would make the Department of Justice, headed by an attorney general elected by the people, and independent branch of the government.

Let the discussion begin.

McCain and Trump

As a Vietnam Era veteran I have the utmost respect for Sen. John McCain, for the sacrifice that he made for our country in Vietnam. However, I have no respect for Donald Trump, since he had “bone spurs” and was exempted from military duty, during the Vietnam conflict.

Also, his disrespect for Sen. McCain, who gave everything for our beloved country, is unforgivable.

Faith in elections

Any doubt that the elections could run smoothly should be dispelled by now. How are the voters supposed to have confidence in the hallowed process of casting their ballot if there are so many possible avenues of error? This alone undermines the entire voting process.

Problems have persisted under the present secretary of state. Do we need new leadership there?

Reasonable suspicion

Last week a suburban Chicago mother was investigated by police for letting her 8-year-old daughter walk the family dog without an adult along.

In 2018, Utah legislated a “Free Range” law with specific exemptions regarding parental conduct. I think a much better solution would be to legislate a new Bright Line Rule on 911 responses.

Under the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark Terry v. Ohio case police were given legal authority to make “investigative stops” based solely on a “reasonable suspicion” standard, eroding prior Fourth Amendment protections which previously required the higher standard of “probable cause.”

I would propose that either State Legislatures — or perhaps even Congress as well — enact a 911 legal response standard that would limit authorization of officer responses to complainants that at a minimum meet the Terry standard of “reasonable suspicion” before officers are allowed to be dispatched to investigate a complaint.

Right now the balance between constitutional rights and the need for public safety is horribly weighted in favor of police being granted carte blanche to engage in fishing expeditions that verge on an Orwellian citizen snooping system where there is NO legal standard at all limiting the scope of 911 responses.