Letters for June 28, 2016 For all proud Americans Recently there were three letters in TGI (June 11, 14 and 17) in which the writers reassured us how great their country was and also proclaimed that they were proud Americans.
Letters for June 28, 2016
For all proud Americans
Recently there were three letters in TGI (June 11, 14 and 17) in which the writers reassured us how great their country was and also proclaimed that they were proud Americans. It is very nice and patriotic to stand by your own country and heralding its perceived greatness. So, I am sure the writers have deserved their leaders’ commendation.
Our group of Hawaiian nationals (both by blood and naturalization), have discussed this issue recently. For us and many other Hawaiians the purpose of these proclamations is quite unclear.
What’s in it for us to hear from Americans that they have the greatest country some 2,500 miles away from their shores? What’s in it for Hawaiians to hear that Americans still have democracy after invading Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria, after the invaded countries have been totally destroyed? How can we benefit from hearing from you that you can say anything you want, when you don’t say anything except “America is the greatest country” and in the meantime Hawaiians are arrested and brought to court for displaying a message with the geographical truth “Hawaii is not America and it will never be!”?
We don’t go to Tahiti or Fiji to brag to the people there that we are proud Hawaiians and Hawaii is the greatest nation, even if we may feel so. But if we are being asked, we tell our reasons too.
So, with all due respect, if you brag about your country and its greatness, please also tell us why here in Hawaii and what you are proud of, so that we can learn. But perhaps the best forum for your patriotic proclamations would be in front of a large group of the 150,000 homeless veterans in your Mainland or in those many counties of your country where the poverty rate higher than 30 percent is. I am sure they can use some motivation over there.
János Keoni Samu
Kalaheo
The people are taking a stand
Brexit. Good decision? Bad decision? That’s the point, isn’t it? It is their country, their decision.
Our country — our decision; our state — our decision; our island – our decision; our district — our decision. If you are standing in the middle of a road and a truck comes barreling down on you, your lack of a decision is a decision and that truck is going to run you over. That is the condition we have been in for some time as a county and sometimes as a community. We allow everything to just happen around us and complain of we don’t like it.
The decision by the British is an indicator of something we’ve been seeing. The sleeping giant — the people, the public — are waking up and want a say in the decisions being made for them. They are not content to just sit back and let professional elite politicians run things — that isn’t how democracy works. Real democracy requires participation.
The very reason that the forefathers instituted a free public education was to perpetuate our democracy. Kids learn by watching what we do. Register to vote and be heard. The deadline to register to vote in the primary is July 16 and for the general election is Oct. 10. You can register online – it’s easy!
Go to https://olvr.hawaii.gov/
Sandra Combs
Kapaa
