Trump divides people

To the Editor:

One can expect name-calling from a young child, but the president of the United States of America? Trump should be like President Reagan, calling Democrats, “Our friends from the other side.”

Trump prefers to divide and conquer, not unite. Even some of Donald Trump’s own family members say he’s unfit to be the President of the United States of America.

Jo Fickbohm

Fairmont

Support Hagedorn

To the Editor:

Watching many of our Democrat-controlled major cities being destroyed, I see mayors and governors who would rather let their cities burn and people die than accept help from President Trump.

My question: In a country that needs to work together, do you despise the President so much that you would continue to have death and destruction? The offer of federal help has been extended and refused. The police departments have not had the backing they need and are overwhelmed. Rioters are being funded and armed, destroying anything in their way. We need law and order.

In Congress, we see the same thing: Democrat Nancy Pelosi doing everything she can to stop the President from accomplishing any good thing for the United States and its citizens.

Now is a time to keep a steady hand in Washington and re-elect Congressman Jim Hagedorn of southern Minnesota. He is and always will be working for the citizens of the First District, small businesses, farmers, highways, health care, etc.

We do not need Dan Feehan supporting Democrat Pelosi to further tears apart our country, and destroy the lives and businesses of innocent law-abiding citizens.

Feehan has said he will not take any corporate PAC money. However, Super PACs outside the district can spend all the money they want to. Who needs outsiders to tell us, the citizens of the First District, how to vote?

Vote for Hagedorn on Nov. 3

Fred Lenz

St. James

Compassion for others

To the Editor:

“Mankind needed dramatizations of the truth that man is essentially good, a living atom of divinity; that compassion for others, friend or foe, is the noblest of all virtues,” wrote the film director, Frank Capra. (John Rash, Minneapolis Tribune, June 17, 2020). “Films must be made to say these things. To counteract the violence and meanness, to buy time to demobilize the hatreds.”

Have you had the chance to see the Capra film “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington?” I recently saw it for the first time. Jimmy Stewart is the idealist, the quixotic man who goes to Washington, D.C. When he first arrives in town, Stewart walks around the monuments in the city, including the Lincoln Memorial. He looks in awe at the Capitol and Congress.

Stewart’s character understood the good he saw in the city and all that good can do for the citizens of this country. The city stands for: democracy, respect for each other, respect for laws and respect for integrity of the political system. This is what Mr. Smith sees on that first walk around town.

Mr. Smith says that the only things worth fighting for are the lost causes. What does that mean? Why is a lost cause worth fighting for? (Spoiler Alert: The “lost cause” wins in the film.)

I wish the leaders of this country would watch this 80-year-old-plus film. Perhaps they could learn something and help us in this time of divisiveness and polarization. We really are all the same: black, white, rich, poor, Christian, Muslim, Mexican, Russian, Chinese. We want to take care of our family; we want our children to grow up and be safe and loved. Don’t you think?

I do believe that compassion for others is most important. What are the ways that citizens can show compassion? What do you think?

Today, in 2020, we need ways to counteract the violence and meanness, to demobilize the hatreds. It might seem like a “lost cause.” But as the hero in the film said, the only thing worth fighting for is the lost cause.

Thanks for taking your time to read this.

Peter Engstrom

Fairmont