Letters to the Editor

A strong case

Recently, Trump has been criticized for advocating a temporary focus on evaluating immigration of Muslims into America and a re-evaluation of current citizens. His remarks are easily publicized as divisive and non-supportive of what we stand for in our country. However, Trump does make a strong case for focusing efforts on “radical” Muslims.

I don’t believe that a verdict for the unacceptable acts of a few can be a broad brush for a religion which has tenants of peace and love at its origins. But, let’s be practical also. How do we balance a belief in freedom and acceptance of all peoples and filter out just the few radicals? Electronic surveillance or interrogation is frowned upon as intrusion of privacy or targeting specific groups. Yet, are families of victims killed by ISIS grateful for lax protection. Live in someone else’s shoes who suffers this type of loss. It’s a balancing act which somehow we need to figure out. Is the sacrifice of the greater good “trump” our personal freedoms? If you have nothing to hide do you allow a latitude to your freedom? You can oppose his stand, but who’s giving an alternative? Let Muslims participate in this effort.

Trump has a point that we need to wake up to threats we face. We can’t keep our individual freedoms without considering the overall good for a specific purpose. Why not support oversight of actions taken by government to minimize abuse by using a Muslim committee?

Steven Tempia, Collinsville