Readers Write: Governmental gridlock, State Fair, abortion, getting stuck in space

Opinion editor’s note: Strib Voices publishes letters from readers online and in print each day. To contribute, click here.

•••

OK, I get it. There is something to be said for “divided government” — a government in which a single party does not control all branches of government (”Voting for gridlock might be the most rational thing you can do,” Strib Voices, Aug. 27).

But there’s also something to be said for an administration that can actually get something done to secure the border, address climate change or make housing more affordable.

D.J. Tice seems to think that the “gridlock zone” is a good thing — a safeguard against policies too far from the wishes of the median voter being forced upon the nation. But where does gridlock get us?

Here’s another idea: Rather than trying to game the system by voting for a president of one party and a Congress of another, vote for the people most willing to listen to the other side and reach compromises that make it possible to achieve positive results. Yes, I know, there are not enough of those kinds of people running for office, but we have to start somewhere.

Then, make those elected understand that we expect compromises that most Americans can live with and that we will vote them out of office if they don’t get the job done. Vote! But don’t stop there. Hold their feet to the fire.

J. Fonkert, Roseville

•••

I understand Tice’s basic premise in his Aug. 27 column, but I take issue with his terminology. “Gridlock” is negative in tone, substance and outcome. It implies acrimony, hopelessness and impasse. Why would any rational person vote for that? A far better choice of words would be “compromise.” When we compromise, we work together. We look for the best way forward. We get something done. I’d vote for that any day!

Alan Bray, St. Peter

Some say food on a stick is quintessentially Minnesotan, but can it truly be considered Minnesotan if it’s not grown or raised here? Despite the Minnesota State Fair’s new app featuring over 40 searchable food categories, “local” is notably absent. For an event that celebrates our state’s agricultural roots, shouldn’t local foods be more prominently featured?

Nikki Warner, Minneapolis

The writer is president of the Hennepin/Ramsey County chapter of Minnesota Farmers Union. She also wrote a guide to local food at the fair that can be found at tinyurl.com/local-fair-food.

•••

Responding to the article on the remaining church dining halls at the State Fair (”Last of dining halls dish out hospitality, ham loaf,” Aug. 26): I remember when the St. Bernard’s dining hall was shuttered back in 2009. There was fanfare over the closure given that it served customers for more than half a century. Another dining hall closed in 2011 in the Epiphany Diner, which led to the final two in the Salem Evangelical Lutheran Church Dining Hall and the Hamline Church Dining Hall. It is a shame because these dining halls usually are used by large family groups with their large tables, slightly smaller crowds, offerings that are not just burgers and corn dogs, and lack of alcohol.

There is also a sense of tradition and nostalgia. I remember going to the Hamline dining hall as a kid and in my 20s. But I also just went there this year. I went to the Salem dining hall this year, too. But perhaps the best purpose for the dining hall is quite simple: being able to put up your feet and actually sit without having to push and shove someone to get to a place to eat.

After reading “Making abortion ‘unthinkable’” (Aug. 27), about a program run in Paynesville, Minn., by a group that opposes abortion, I must express my anger about pro-lifers usurping my own right to the same identification because I am pro-choice regarding women’s reproductive lives. I care deeply for the gift of life, but my understanding of its protection differs from theirs — that would be another letter.

“Abortion” is a hard word to hear. So is “amputation.” Choosing life can require us to care for our bodies in ways that require exceptionally difficult decisions. In my case, an ectopic pregnancy made me aware of the meaning of abortion. It often involves complex medical issues.

The dictates of some religions forbid some medical practices, which we are free to follow for ourselves but not free to impose on others. Democracy encourages us to teach, preach and practice the variety of our religions in peace, but it demands that we do not run our nation via any one of those personal religious dictates.

I welcome the right of Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life to hold camps and other teaching venues. I do not welcome the invalidating judgment that their goal of “making abortion unthinkable” lays upon me and others who ask government to stay out of our bedrooms and medical offices.

Shawn O’Rourke Gilbert, Edina

I am an intermittent reader of the Star Tribune. I am pro-life. It was so refreshing to see the article in Tuesday’s paper covering the camp where attendees talk about the issue of life and abortion.

I want to thank whoever made the decision to cover this event and give it such great coverage. Politicians have taken this issue and used it to their advantage in some cases. What we need is grassroots conversations with the next generation on this topic. Thank you also to the organizers of the camp. Well done. Keep it up.

Ron Murray, Staples, Minn.

•••

I disagree with the point of view of the couple running the summer camp to train teens to talk compassionately about abortion, but I do commend their efforts to turn down the heat on the inflammatory rhetoric (especially the yelling and screaming through bullhorns) that I have witnessed in other settings. However, if they truly want to make abortion “unthinkable” they will need to work harder to make sure we have support systems in place to make having children “thinkable” — such as universal free or low-cost child care, permanent child tax credits that actually make a dent in the expenses incurred in raising kids, minimum wage guarantees or some version of a basic guaranteed income, affordable housing, health care coverage ... the list goes on. And, oh, how about accurate sex education and access to free or low-cost contraceptives so the thinking can start when people are actually ready to support a family and are eager to do so?

When you have a flight that is canceled or delayed this Labor Day weekend, pause for a moment and consider what it must be like for astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, who have a six-month delay in their return from space after they were already delayed for two months (“2 astronauts are stuck in space,” Aug. 25).