There is a limit to respecting MAGA voters
I sense many MAGA voters have gotten quiet since President Donald Trump took office. I see some loyalists still hanging on to the conspiracies and wild accusations of the movement. Otherwise, an uncharacteristic silence is offered while the chaos MAGA voters approved spreads like a California wildfire.
My MAGA neighbors should expect the same treatment they have always gotten from me: an easy smile, maybe a helping hand, a gesture of gratitude when deserved. But, know that I’ll never truly comprehend what you’ve done, the cruelty you’ve sanctioned with your precious ballot and a grudge.
I’ve done poorly with my vote in the past, myself. I’ve been so careless; I’ve got blood up to my elbows for stupid wars I voted for, and I’ve supported my share of failed initiatives ― but nothing like what the MAGA voter has authorized with a sense of righteous satisfaction. At least my negligent ballots of the past were cast with the intent to promote a better union, not to crush her over contrived grievances.
We’ll go on being neighbors, fellow citizens, siblings in faith. Yet, I’ll never understand the MAGA voter’s contempt for our country.
Tim Fournier
Branch Township
Grand Prix was better on Belle Isle
Pato O’Ward is right. The downtown race course is such an embarrassment for the city.
Belle Isle was not perfect. (“IndyCar driver Pato O’Ward rips new Detroit Grand Prix: ‘I hate this place. It sucks,’ Detroit Free Press, June 3.) It was kind of narrow, but it led to far better racing. Granted, logistics for racing on Belle Isle are tricky, but that is one of the things that gave it character and made it unique in the racing world.
Racing downtown, just for the sake of saying that that they are racing in downtown Detroit and speeding down the riverfront, is not worth making the city such a laughingstock for the poor quality of the race course.
If they want to race downtown, they should spend the money to widen the corners and smooth the track to make car racing in downtown Detroit worthy of the Motor City.
Joseph Kastely
Ann Arbor
The U.S. should catch up to China in clean energy spending
Pete Hegseth has been playing up the China threat recently, and will probably be happy that Trump’s “big beautiful bill” increases military spending to over $1 trillion. In spite of the U.S. spending more than double on its military than China, the latter is clearly leading when it comes to green energy.
In 2022, China spent $546 billion investing in solar, wind, electric vehicles and batteries, while the U.S. spent $141 billion, beating us by nearly quadruple. China’s clean energy capacity has already exceeded its fossil fuel capacity, and has even already surpassed its 2023 targets for solar and wind power.
It’s quite possible that China isn’t weaning itself off fossil fuels for altruistic reasons, given that it must import nearly all of its oil and natural gas. Nevertheless, it’s clear which nation is leading the fight against climate change, and we’d be wise to follow their example.
Luke Daniels
Rochester
The right way to stop deer crash collisions
Deer crash collisions occur because our roads bisect deer habitat without wildlife bridges or tunnels, speed limits, the rate of traffic congestion and other factors.
The cities of Southfield, Farmington and Farmington Hills have decided to have deer culls to prevent deer-traffic collisions. That won’t work. Deer will simply increase their birth rate to make up for it.
Without dealing with the underlying cause of the crashes, deer-car collisions will continue.
If a community still wants to reduce deer population numbers, it can use porcine zona pellucida, an immunocontraception vaccine that does not allow female deer to get pregnant.
William McMullin
Oak Park
Listening is important now more than ever
Deep breath, every morning. And then where do I start?
Everything seems to be crashing all at once. It is not an exaggeration. Anyone listening and reading would see the U.S. is going away from a constitutional republic, or whatever you want to call what it was. Many of my friends do not share my alarm because they “don’t keep up with politics.” It was that way for me for years and years. Until I started listening.
Now I cannot pretend that the government is churning along as it always has. We are becoming something else faster than anyone who is listening imagined. One man and his enablers are deciding what is true, what is right, what is wrong, what is just, who is entitled to justice and who is entitled to live.
Please, start listening.
Gina DeLange
Allen Park
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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Grand Prix move to downtown Detroit was a mistake. Belle Isle was better. | Letters
Reporting by Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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