Letter to the editor: Response to “Where are our Senators?” and “What has happened to the country I love?”

(See letters refered to here and here)

July 20, 2019

I don’t know where the information in these Letters to the Editor came from but any number of searches in any browser will differ from what was provided.  These letters are written from a stance of an emotional and non-factual bias. Undocumented fellow humans cannot collect benefits that are not legally afforded to them. These people can become legally employed and have taxes removed from their wages that they cannot benefit from, but benefit US citizens (such as Social Security and medicaid- which is more than I can say for certain large corporations). 

I could write a response that will sound like a bleeding heart liberal and will be passed off as such and scoffed at behind computer screens. 

I could also write a fact-based educational response that will glaze over eyes and will not incur a reaction as powerful as the original fear-based Letters to the Editor. 

I am going to go for response that I hope everyone coming from both sides will ask themselves. 

What happened to the America that I love? What happened to the America where men and women would stand up in defense of women who were publicly berated, insulted, and told to “go home”? Where did all of those real Americans go? 

What happened to the America that was made better by progressing with the combined knowledge and experience of a wide variety of people? Have we really become so incredibly narrow-minded that only we can only reassure our egos within the echo chambers we create for ourselves? 

What happened to my America where there wasn’t just one idea of America? America is what we, as a collective, make it. The larger the divide we drive forth worsens and further breaks the United States and the global example we should be. By dehumanizing people including female lawmakers we are becoming what we ourselves hate- a freedomless society mirroring closely nations and ideologies we have previously gone to war with. 

Listen to yourselves. Listen to what you say and how you say it. If you want freedom- allow others freedom. Freedom isn’t found within control or  hate. It is found with holding each other up and breaking down borders. 

Mel Andersen, Manchester

Editor’s Note: Views expressed in any Letter to the Editor are always exclusively those of the author. Do you have something you want Manchester the know? Send your Letter to the Editor to themanchestermirror@gmail.com.

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by Sara Swanson

Sara Swanson is an editor, writer and founder of the Manchester Mirror.