LETTERS

We welcome letters. Please include your full name, address and telephone number. We edit all letters. Send them to editor@illinoistimes.com.

BICENTENNIAL DREAMS

Thank you for highlighting the many efforts of groups statewide who are enthusiastically preparing to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Illinois statehood in 2018. (“Tardy party,” by Erika Holst, Aug. 11.) While much needs to be done, communities throughout our state are meeting, planning and dreaming big dreams about ways they can commemorate the bicentennial year. Like James Krohe Jr. indicated in his Aug. 25 column, “Getting it right this time,” everyone involved in planning for the bicentennial needs to reflect on a past that stretches far beyond Illinois statehood, as well as reach toward ideas that will impact Illinois residents today and in the future.

In the greater Springfield area, the Illinois Bicentennial Coordinating Committee intends to dream as boldly as our local troubadour poet Vachel Lindsay, who saw incredible potential in the town and citizens of Springfield. We encourage like-minded individuals to join us on Tuesday, Sept. 27, at 7 p.m. in the Carnegie South Room of the Springfield Lincoln Library to learn how they or the organizations and community institutions they represent can collaborate with others to create a year of incredible activities in and around Springfield in 2018. Space for this meeting is limited, so we would appreciate an RSVP to il200spi@gmail. com. Lisa Higgs Co-chair, Illinois Bicentennial Coordinating Committee of Springfield

ANGRY TRUMPITES

In response to the Sept. 1 letter titled “Pitching Trump,” the Sangamon County for Trump member seems to have developed a revisionist view of recent American history. He seems to have forgotten that it was Republican President George W. Bush, not Barack Obama, who created the turmoil in the Middle East that our country is still dealing with today. Bush cohorts like Ambassador to the U.N. Bolton and Vice President Cheney have blood on their hands for the thousands of boys killed in Iraq in the last 15 years and for those being killed as we speak. Bolton lied about weapons of mass destruction and misled members of Congress and the country to get us into war. Cheney profited from the war, making millions through Halliburton contracts in Iraq. Power, money and oil were their underlying concerns, all under the guise of making America safe. It took Obama several years to redevelop relationships with our allies around the world and to reaffirm our respect for all cultures and religions though different from our own. He has been a wise and dignified leader and a good president.

Now, another powerhungry, money-hungry pseudo-Republican is seeking the presidency. Donald Trump has already made $10 million from leasing his properties to his campaign for events, charging the Republican Party exorbitant prices. The Republican Party is being played and prominent leaders of the Grand Ol’ Party don’t even seem to care. How they can remain silent while he slanders a true war hero like Sen. John McCain is beyond me.

When Hillary Clinton wins Illinois and the general election in a few weeks, the white Anglo-Saxon Trumpites will go back to their good jobs earning their regular wages that are 20 percent higher than women and 40 percent higher than African- Americans doing the same work, just as before. But I’m sure they will find new things to complain about. Deena L. Dailey Springfield