Colorblind patriotism

EDITOR: One way to disparage someone is to say they don’t love our troops or our country. It happens a lot with politicians, since their way to show respect to pin an American flag on their clothes. I knew very patriotic people in my life and none were politicians.

In 1966, I served a year in combat with the 26th Marines. About 20% of our infantry company were Latino and about 15% African American. We were all strangers but after 4 months of training, we headed to Vietnam. Most of us were poor or middle class and none of us wore an American flag pin and none applied for a deferment.

I found out rather quickly that even though our Navy corpsman was black, Doc did not hesitate or ask what color we were when we were wounded. He just ran right toward the fire and did his job. Same with the Latinos -- they fought and died for our country without question.

I am angry and ashamed that our leaders are using race and ethnicity for political gain. Especially since quite a few of them did not show up when being patriotic really counted. Shame on them.

John Lauer, Southport

Equal representation

EDITOR: The best way to solve our nation's gridlock and division is to ensure fair elections. If we demand voter ID cards then we should issue a voter ID card to every American on their 18th birthday. Why not make election day a national holiday?

Why do we penalize voters who live in urban areas? Rural citizens are already overrepresented by the fact that each state gets two senators no matter the state’s population. California (39 million people) gets two senators … it takes the bottom 17 states' populations to equal 39 million, yet they get 34 senators. The Senate is half of Congress.

Gerrymandering by both parties has led to unfair representation. NC is very balanced politically, yet in 2018 the Republicans controlled 10 of 13 congressional seats. The Citizens United Supreme Court decision has resulted in billionaires from both parties having too much influence on our elections.

The Electoral College was created when there were 13 states. It is longer relevant as it distorts the results and gives rural voters undue influence. President Trump won the Electoral College handily (279-218), yet he lost the popular vote by 3 million. Our founding fathers knew that the Constitution was not perfect and understood that changes would be needed, which is why they allowed for a process to amend the Constitution. Six of our Constitution’s amendments have dealt with voting. …

While we may not agree on policy, we should all agree that fair elections are crucial for a healthy democracy.

David Cignotti, Wrightsville Beach