How to celebrate the flag and our freedoms
June 14, this Saturday, is Flag Day, which commemorates the adoption of the United States Flag on June 14, 1777. It’s also considered the birthday of the U.S. Army. It’s a day we can all reflect on what the flag symbolizes to our country, our Constitution, and the Bill of Rights. This country was founded to liberate itself from a king. We sent troops to fight against a Nazi dictator.
Also on this June 14, hundreds of groups of patriots of all faiths and ages are organizing peaceful gatherings to exercise their First Amendment right of free speech to advocate for our democracy. These peaceful gatherings will reflect viewpoints that differ from the current president’s, but they are more about the methodology of their enactment, without representation, where even our elected representatives in Congress are not being consulted.
Hundreds of lawsuits are being filed to examine the constitutionality of the cruelty raining down on thousands of our most vulnerable neighbors and laborers, supposedly to reduce “waste,” while a $100 million parade is being staged in our capital. Who will that benefit?
These peaceful gatherings are pro-democracy and anti-dictator. There are No Kings in America.
Jo Ann McNiel, Cedar Rapids
Incorrect headline is unfair to Trump
The Register has long established its prejudice as an “anti-Trump” publication. But editors ignored propriety by attaching an inaccurate headline to the June 6 story by Jeff Mason detailing the White House counsel’s investigation of the probable autopen fiasco (“Trump directs probe into Biden’s use of autopen”).
The entire premise of the inquiry is not Biden’s use of the autopen, but whether other people in the White House made use of the robotic signing machine without the knowledge of Biden.
Your readers deserve headlines that describe the content of a story.
Stu Bassman, West Des Moines
Tom Harkin gets states’ rights backward
In a recent guest essay, former Sen. Tom Harkin rightly declared that “states must retain the right to set their own agricultural policies.” However, by defending California’s Proposition 12, he undermines this very principle.
Under Prop 12, California bans the sale of most eggs and pork produced by Iowa farmers. Iowa’s family farmers will need to spend millions to reconstruct their farms to comply with Prop 12’s costly demands – despite not a single Iowan being allowed to vote on the law.
That’s about as far from “states setting their own agricultural policies” as one could get. It’s no wonder that there’s a strong bipartisan opposition to the law. Former Secretary of Agriculture (and former Iowa governor) Tom Vilsack and current Secretary of Agriculture Brook Rollins have both spoken against Prop 12.
In order to truly let states set their own agricultural policies, Congress needs to pass legislation to fix Prop 12. California’s costly regulations should stay within California’s borders.
Will Coggin, research director, Center for Environment and Welfare, Arlington, Virginia
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Incorrect autopen headline is unfair to Trump | Letters