LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Systems of oppression are manufactured explanations – The Central Virginian

Having moved to Bumpass two years ago from New Hampshire, I am impressed with the ease of early voting. There is no excuse for not voting, and I believe that this November 8th mid-term is probably the most important in at 150 years. We are in a bad place in Washington, and we need to select representatives who are virtuous and wise enough to make the changes required to get us going in the right direction. The founders created our liberal democracy, while realizing the fragility of this radical experiment in government. They had an expectation that our system of liberal democracy could not last unless the voters made wise choices in electing leaders.

The letter by Dave Stone and Aggie Zed (Oct 6) has me concerned. Josh Throneburg says he wants to do something about the climate crisis. And he wants to dismantle systems of oppression. I am a retired mechanical engineer who has spent many hours studying these issues. In Washington, doing something about the climate crisis means throwing lots of money at schemes to reduce CO2 emissions. The result would be spending many billions of dollars to achieve reductions that produce atmospheric temperature reductions that are too small to measure. Climate change has always occurred due to changes in the level of radiation received from the sun. Studies have shown changes over cycles of about 1500 years which have caused temperature variation of about 4 degrees C. The most recent cycle involved warming during the time of the Romans, through cooling in the medieval period in the early 1000s. There was no human activity over this period which could have had any effect on climate.. There have been other cycles, with periods of 50 t0 100,000 years which have resulted in glacial periods. Much of Northern America and Europe were covered by mile thick sheets of ice. These have been related to changes in the earth orbiting around the sun, and the incline of the earth in orbit. The billions that we are throwing at reducing the tiny human contribution to climate change would be better spent in adaptation. There will be billions of disadvantaged people who need help to adapt to the heating and cooling that will come with climate change. It is important that we elect leaders who are wise enough to understand the true nature of this natural phenomenon.

The systems of oppression that Throneburg wants to dismantle relate to creations of leftist ideology such as Critical Race Theory (CRT). It is claimed that non-members of the oppressed group are inherently racist. CRT is a subset of Critical Theory, an array of movements aimed at fomenting feelings of grievance in various segments of society. The goal is to create friction among the groups that is manifested as a system of identity politics. The identity groups include racial, gender, LBGTQ, cultures, economic groups, and others with supposed grievances against society. Affirmative action is demanded to reduce inequities. With the divisions caused by identity politics, the functioning of democratic government is severely compromised. Critical Theory was transferred from Europe to academia in the 1970s. It has been spread widely with generations of graduates from US colleges. It has spread even to the grade schools throughout America. We need politicians with the wisdom to recognize that the systems of oppression are the manufactured explanations for the presumed transgressions by society against the aggrieved members of the identity groups.

Please consider these issues in deciding how to vote on Nov. 8th.

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LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Systems of oppression are manufactured explanations - The Central Virginian