Opinion

Moderates should talk to each other
 

Moderates should talk to each other

To the Editor:

There have been several interesting letters to the editor in The Sylva Herald and the Smoky Mountain News over the past few weeks. I agreed with some of their lines of thoughts and ideas; with others I did not agree. But they were all trying to express their ideas, and I will give them that. 

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Voting can change your life
 

Voting can change your life

To the Editor:

How can you connect at the community, regional, state and national level? At all levels, you can educate yourself on what can be done to improve your county.

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Comment

Project 2025 must be defeated
 

Project 2025 must be defeated

To the Editor:

The biggest threat to American democracy that no one is talking about is waiting in the wings, ready to be rolled out as soon as a “conservative” (MAGA) Republican presidency is voted in.

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You have to stand for something
 

You have to stand for something

To the Editor:

Do we want to be a country where opinion is more important than fact? How is it that some people proclaim that Christians are being oppressed, when there has been no instance of anyone being denied the ability to worship as they see fit? It's misinformation designed to rile people up. 

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Comment

Democrats need to learn a lesson
 

Democrats need to learn a lesson

To the Editor:

Millions of people tuned in to the debate between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump on June 27. What did we see? No one could deny that we saw a president clearly diminished cognitively.

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Comment

 

Embrace the ideals America stands for

I know that many people are so upset with the state of politics and division in our country that they struggled with the idea of celebrating the Fourth of July this year. Patriotism is and always has been a slippery and problematic thing. We’ll get back to that. 

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Lessons learned in the wilderness

My last column was written just before I returned from Wilderness Trail. I’m not sure what propelled me to sign up for this adventure, other than I felt it was time to challenge myself.

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Beneath the traditions, let’s consider our democracy

When our three children were young, we had a regular July 4 tradition. For probably about 15 years, we would head to Bryson City for the Firecracker 5K, a very low-key road race that starts downtown and heads out toward Deep Creek and then back.

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American democracy’s last stand

I was raised in a rural, conservative-leaning county with two working parents and six busy kids. My mother was a nurse and public heath educator and my father worked in insurance and real estate before serving three terms as our Republican State House representative and later as a lawyer and court judge.

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