As a long time-participant in the battle for equal rights, I commend your April 1 editorial calling for 50 percent representation of women in Illinois elective offices. Clearly this is an admirable goal and would contribute to a more balanced approach to the many issues that impact our citizens.
I would, however, like to insert a word of caution into the discussion. I believe that, all things being equal, a vote for a female candidate would be a positive step. The problem, of course, is that all things are seldom equal. Two X-chromosomes do not always make a supporter of equal rights.
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In the past, as we have battled for the Equal Rights Amendment, the Equal Pay Act, the Family and Medical Leave Act, Title IX and countless other pieces of legislation for the benefit of society, the faces of the opposition have not always been male. All too often, some of the loudest negative voices have been those of women. So while I enthusiastically encourage voters to give all due consideration to supporting the women who are stepping forward to run for office, I would caution that we need to take care to find out exactly where all of the candidates stand on the issues.
Sometimes the true feminist on the ballot could be the guy in the tie.
Patricia Motto, Elmhurst
Government needs to protect the Clean Power Plan
Almost 70 percent of Americans support the Clean Power Plan. In such an environment, it is unbelievable that the current administration is dismantling that plan, and that they confirmed this week that they will weaken planned gasoline mileage standards, as you cited in your article “EPA to ease back emissions standards.”
Sure, that’s what automakers say they want. But companies naturally focus on their profits over the long-term health of our economy and of our planet. It is the role of our government, as our representative, to look out for our interests. If the EPA and the Trump administration refuse to do that, we must push back against them in any way we can — through lawsuits, phone calls and town halls, and ultimately, through our votes.
Jim Schwartz, Oak Park
What is Mexico doing for its own poor and refugees?
Edward Juillard opens his recent letter with, “You really could not capture a more crystalline moment of cluelessness as to what Christianity is all about than President Donald Trump’s racist comment, as he left church on Easter Sunday, concerning DACA and people supposedly wanting to game the system.”
Racist? Please, Ed, quote the president and explain, clearly, how his words are racist.
Towards the end, you said this: “All Christians are called to protect the poor and serve the refugee.” All Christians, Ed? I must ask you: You do know that Mexico is predominantly Christian, right? What are Mexico’s leaders doing to protect their own poor, other than gleefully watching them sneak into the United States? What are they doing to serve the refugee, besides ushering them through their country and likewise gleefully watching as they, too, cross into the United States?
I’ve talked to Mexican nationals who told me that there was a time, not long ago, when it was very dangerous for non-Mexicans to sneak into that country. Arrest and imprisonment was all but guaranteed should they be caught (especially if they happened to be poor). And if what they said about those prisons is true, well, you would not want to be sent there for any reason.
John Babush, Big Rock
Fight For $15 to get companies off the dole
When you make minimum wage of $7.25, or maybe even $9.00, you are still so poor that you qualify for federal assistance, such as welfare, housing assistance, etc. Corporations love this. We taxpayers are subsidizing their workers’ living expenses, which allows them to pay 300 to 400 times the median company pay to their CEOs, and pay great dividends besides.
It’s time we get these corporations off the dole. Support the Fight For $15 — after all, it’s your money.
Lee Knohl, Evanston
