Readers Write: Helping strangers, Republican National Convention, national debt, masks

This is a story about the kind, helpful people who are out there but are so often overlooked, especially lately.

My husband, Harry, owns an orange electric moped with pedals that can reach a speed of 20 mph. Last week he was trying to go south from Hwy. 7 on the beltway boulevard that he always uses. Because of construction, he was surprised to find the route totally closed. No matter where he looked, construction blocked him everywhere. His only alternative was to take Hwy. 7 and 100, which of course would be suicide on a vehicle that could barely make 20 mph.

The construction workers saw his dilemma and were not about to let this cute old guy (he's 88) remain stranded. Three of them picked up his moped. "150 pounds," they said. "That's nothing." They carried it across the entire construction zone while a fourth took his arm to keep his balance on the rocky path.

If people are placed on earth to help their fellow human beings, then these construction workers are certainly fulfilling all expectations.

The Star Tribune editorial ("A convention for the party of one," Aug. 28) identifies numerous untruths offered by President Donald Trump during his nomination acceptance speech. The fact that Trump again lied is no surprise. The Washington Post has documented over 20,000 false or misleading claims by Trump during his presidency. It is a given that he will lie on all matters important or inconsequential.

Trump is a serial liar. But why does he do it? Simply put, he thinks that it serves his personal and political interests. And he believes he can lie without consequence. Trump thinks that many voters and especially his base don't know that he is lying and/or don't care that he lies to them. He also is supported in spreading falsehoods by his spokespeople and GOP politicians who perpetuate the lies.

They know that he misleads us but are so driven by political self-interest that they acquiesce in silence.

If Trump is the law-and-order president, why does he work so hard to have his convicted campaign officials, friends and government officials let go from prison or pardoned? For those people, he says they were treated very unfairly. Hmm ...

Trump's message is very clear: "Be afraid. Be very afraid." I am. I'm very afraid that he'll be re-elected.

While we can respect Walter Mondale for his years of service to our country, his commentary of Aug. 27 confirms my belief that he, Joe Biden and the Democratic Party are again moving toward losing an election that could have been a landslide for them ("We don't want your angry, fearful message," Opinion Exchange). They do not understand the American people. I was a Republican who will never vote for such a dishonest candidate as Trump. But Trump continues to talk about crime, taxes and China, which are things most Americans fear. Their hopes lie with a safe environment, opportunity to prosper and fair competition.

Platitudes like "I will work hard for those who didn't support me" do not resonate. What works is "I will work for you, all you hardworking people. I will do my part for you, because I trust you."

In my opinion, if Biden does not distance himself from the ultraleft wing of his party and immediately assure us that he believes we need a strong police force to keep our cities safe and that such a position is consistent with Black Lives Matter, he will leave us with four more years of Trump.

As I turned on the television last week to see what was happening at the Republican National Convention, I watched a parade of women speaking about how compassionate, encouraging and empowering Trump has been to them. I couldn't help wondering if the 25 women who have accused him of sexual misconduct, harassment and even rape had experienced those same feelings of compassion, encouragement and empowerment. I guess the women speaking that night also must think that telling women they are crooked, nasty, bimbos, fat, disgusting, slobs, low-IQ, third-rate, s**t for brains, dogs and liars, Miss Piggy, unattractive inside and out, built like a linebacker and have face of a pig, a horseface and a bad complexion empower them and show them compassion. Good grief — Donald J. Trump is no friend to women!

Amid the herd of elephants in the room, drowned out by the cacophony from all the other trumpeting, the national debt pachyderm lurks. Among the promises made, promises not kept is President Donald Trump's vow to pay off the debt in eight years. So far the already crippling liability has increased 30% since 2017.

What would happen if the nearly free money we now borrow starts to cost us double or triple, as had been the norm in past decades? I think of bad things, such as even more debt, reduction or elimination of necessary government programs, printing money, the collapse of the dollar, default.

We're in a tough situation right now where we have to deficit spend to sustain our population in this crippled economy. I get that, but we didn't have to do a tax cut, especially to the wealthy individuals and corporations who didn't need it and already had more tax breaks than we little guys get. These tax cuts increased the rate of deficit even before this pandemic. We don't have to keep building up a military that is already larger than the next 10 countries combined. And we don't have to do all of this to mollify the ego of one man as he rampages through every facet of our society.

Yesterday my son-in-law and I entered the clubhouse of a Wisconsin golf course to register for our round. Posted on the entry door was a sign reminding us that the governor had mandated that as of Aug. 1, all were required to wear masks in this bar/golf shop. But when we entered, we noticed that we were the only ones wearing them. No one else, including staff, was. Presumably they thought their freedom allowed them to ignore the order.

Aren't we all soldiers in this war? Do we really want to win it?