YOUR VIEWS: Letters to the Editor, Aug. 16 – Opinion – Utica Observer Dispatch

American democracy balancing precariously

"May you live in interesting times" an old Chinese well wish or curse.

We are living at a point in the life of our democracy philosophers like Alexis Charles de Tocqueville and others predicted as the end of democracies a life expectancy ranging about 250 years.

Americas democracy is balancing on the point of a pin. Corruption among the royal leadership is a caustic poison that drips down to the people.

In 1787 Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor at the University of Edinburgh, said: "A democracy is always temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally collapse due to loose fiscal policy, which is always followed by a dictatorship."

Professor Tyler continued with these eight steps of a democracy:

1. From bondage to spiritual faith;

2. From spiritual faith to great courage;

3. From courage to liberty;

4. From liberty to abundance;

5. From abundance to complacency;

6. From complacency to apathy;

7. From apathy to dependence;

8. From dependence to bondage

We seem to be on pace to make Professor Tylers predictions come true. Our ancestors took great risks, sacrificing sweat, blood and life to free themselves from the bondage of monarchs, despots and dictators. They fought hard for the treasures of freedom.

It appears recent generations are surrendering those freedoms in the most cowardly of capitulations, rolling over like dogs to be leashed in bondage. Settling fat, happy and lazy, back again to emaciated and downtrodden.

Gerald J. Furnkranz, Millport

Maennerchor an area treasure

Frank Tomainos July article in the O-D mentioned the Utica Maennerchor and described how it was founded in 1865 by a group of 15 men who started a German choir in a brewery.

These men faced numerous difficulties as they created one of the largest and most popular clubs in central New York.

UMC has continued to struggle and face innumerable challenges the Great Depression, Prohibition, losing the building to fire and then to urban renewal twice.

Times have changed and the Maennerchor has changed where once it was a closed club with over 500 dedicated members, it is now open to the public with 300 members dedicated to song, dance and German culture.

The Maennerchors singers and dancers perform free at various cultural events and nursing homes often donating proceeds from in-house concerts to other worthy causes.

The facilities are presently open to anyone who wishes to enjoy the fine bar and Friday dinners, to renting the spacious grounds and buildings for private parties or monthly meetings.

The Bavarian Festival has been canceled due to COVID and has been replaced with a GoFundMe drive which has helped with some revenue loss.

The Utica Maennerchor has existed for 155 years and should it not survive, it would be a great cultural loss to our area.

John and Erika Perrone, Marcy

Safely reopening SUNY Poly

We are writing to alert the public as to the concerns our faculty and staff members have about the reopening plan for SUNY Poly, especially its Utica campus.

SUNY Polys Reopening Plan adheres to standards established by the CDC, state and SUNY guidelines. The plan complies with some of the recommended best practices while adhering only to minimal standards with regard to testing with a 7 to 14 day "good faith" precautionary quarantine and event testing upon arrival only if the student is showing symptoms.

Mandatory testing of students, faculty, and staff before returning to campus and throughout the semester is essential to protect the safety of students, staff, faculty, and of the wider community.

We applaud the examples set by private colleges and some SUNY campuses, and believe that the practice of mandatory testing should be extended to all campuses, including the Utica campus.

There is still time to require mandatory testing of students, faculty, and staff before they return to campus. We respectfully ask that the community support us in this effort by urging SUNY Polys Interim President Wang (president@sunypoly.edu) to do the right thing and require a rigorous program of testing.

Dr. Linda Weber, Poly Utica Faculty Assembly

Dr. Maarten Heyboer, Poly Chapter of UUP

Head to library for free wi-fi

I applaud any efforts to address digital access inequities in our community and the news that there are additional wi-fi hotspots for downtown Utica residents and visitors to the community is worthy of praise.

I would also like to point out that downtown Utica has had free wi-fi for 23 hours and 59 minutes of every day since March 13th, 2020, in the parking lot and grounds outside Utica Public Library.

We aren't alone, either.

Many of the libraries in the Mid York Library System which comprises all public libraries in Oneida, Herkimer and Madison Counties made efforts to expand their free, unlimited wi-fi access on their properties once we made the difficult but necessary decision to close our buildings almost five months ago.

While we are still unable to open fully to the public as we have have been in the past, staff have been providing both new online and on-site programming such as browsing of new library materials on Thursdays outside our building, free bagged lunches two days a week for children in partnership with Compassion Coalition, and take-and-make craft kits for children and adults.

Utica Public Library recently updated its mission statement: With over a century of service to the Greater Utica Area, The Library remains dedicated to providing information and learning experiences throughout our diverse community.

This hasn't changed due to the current pandemic, and while we certainly miss visitors coming freely through our doors and roaming our majestic stacks, our work hasn't stopped.

Christopher Sagaas, director, Utica Public Library

Disrespecting two saints

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez a prominent Democrat from New York claims Fr. Damien, was an example of a white supremacist. This was a Catholic priest who went to Hawaii and ended up working with lepers.

This priest, knowing the dangers, went to the island to assist these walking dead. He died of leprosy at 48. Before he died, he came back to America looking for those who might assist him in his ministry. Over 50 religious congregations had refused his request, all knowing how contagious this truly deadly disease was.

It was not until he reached Syracuse that he met a Catholic nun who said she was interested. She grew up during the Civil War in Utica. She had already founded St. Josephs Hospital in Syracuse.

She along with six of her fellow sisters joined Fr. Damien.

The Church, on rare occasion, will choose extraordinary people to be used as good examples for us all. They are called saints. There have been 15 from America in our history. Marianne Cope is included on that list.

Where is the outrage from our local politicians to these blatant lies?

They sit back and say nothing as these people work to "cancel" the best of us.

Martin Droz, North Bay

Protect Adirondack Park

It disappoints me every year at the indifference some people have toward preserving the integrity of the Adirondack area. Garbage and beer cans thrown out of cars, the noise and pollution of snowmobiles, boats and Jet Skis its just the cavalier indifference of some of the visitors toward this environment.

Social media has also impacted the hiking trails. Everyone wants to get a selfie on top of a mountain and yet most have seldom, if ever, spent a night in the woods. They are ignorant of the history, solitude and spirituality of what this unique resource provides and means.

To many, the Adirondacks simply represents a destination to party. How do you keep the Adirondacks economically viable without taking away the thing that makes it the Adirondacks?

I hope this question gets the attention it needs before its too late.

Gerhardt Storsberg, Trenton

Comparing generations again

In his guest view "Greatest Generation " (OD, 8/09/20), the writer describes the differences between the sacrifices made during WWII and the refusal today, by some, to tolerate the small inconvenience of a face mask.

He reminded us that our whole nation collaborated on the homefront and the battlefield to defeat a horrific enemy, and compares those patriotic actions to the shameful behaviors of some today who refuse to fight a different, but equally dangerous public enemy through the simple expedient of a face mask.

I'd like to add another important comparison between then and now.

I'd like you to compare the national leadership that we were blessed with back in the dark days of WWII to the one we're burdened with today.

We had Roosevelt and an energetic, dutiful Congress to guide us and unify us through those awful times. Today we have Trump and his cowardly enablers whose leadership, or the lack thereof, has resulted in our nation displaying the worst position in the world relative to combating the COVID-19 pandemic.

November 3 can't come soon enough.

Carl Streeter, Ilion

Park condition shameful

A friend and I visited a park which has several monuments.

Who is responsible for the Purple Heart Memorial Park at Erie and Whitesboro streets in Utica?

I could not believe it. It was so sad to see the overgrowth at the Purple Heart Monument and the wanton damage and destruction to the pavilion, with supports kicked out. The flower pots were overturned and plants destroyed a general sense of abandonment.

Where is the civic pride?

Robert Fletcher, Ilion

A witness to poor policing practices

I am writing in opposition to the 10-point policing proposal introduced by sheriffs across the state.

I am the proud son of a retired police officer and I worked in police dispatch. Despite my compassion for the challenges and dangers of policing, I do not support legislating law enforcement officers as a protected class.

The protests sparked by the murder of George Floyd exposed the growing impatience with abuse of power and authority by law enforcement; over-policing, racial profiling, brutalization, and extrajudicial executions.

New York State sheriffs assert that the 10-point proposal will improve officer safety in a "climate of disrespect." I have witnessed the militarization of police over time, the shooting of a known mentally ill citizen, harassment of a Latino acquaintance, and have been subject to disrespect by police officers while engaged in my work as a pastor.

Draconian protection laws for police will not earn more respect.

I suggest legislation that promotes citizen input and defunding law enforcement to fund social services, mental health, conflict resolution, domestic violence intervention, combating poverty, and improving decaying neighborhoods.

Rev. Richard Moran, Jr., New York Mills

Choose wisely in November election

Conservatives and Libertarians endorsed Tenney; Working Families and Independents endorsed Brindisi (justfacts.votesmart.org, ballotpedia.org). I consider myself as an Independent Conservative, registered Republican.

For upstaters, the House elections are of even more importance than the presidential one. Tenny will claim Brindisi is Pelosi's puppet (yet she openly admits to being Trump's). The negative ads will increase, and we all need to be able to see through them.

Statistics on sites such as Govtrack.us show similarities. I encourage you to browse deeper into sites like these and make informed decisions. You will see the committees Brindisi sits on, and those Tenney did not. You can compare bills sponsored, and how they voted. You can see their ratings and how they fall on an ideology/leadership scale.

Most notable for me was Tenney's poor approval scores from "Club for Growth," which are very conservative: Reducing taxes, the size and scope of the federal government, spending, and passing a balanced budget (clubforgrowth.org).

Please dont believe all of Claudia's advertisements. Educate yourself to make the best decision for you and your family here in upstate New York.

Travis Owens, Clinton

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YOUR VIEWS: Letters to the Editor, Aug. 16 - Opinion - Utica Observer Dispatch