To the editor,
It seems there’s no limit to our current president’s cruelty and lack of human decency. Now he gloats over the establishment of an “Alligator Alcatraz” immigrant detention facility in the Florida swamps and urges other states to follow suit. It’s anybody’s guess whether basic humanitarian measures to protect the unlucky inmates from hazards such as heat and malaria will be taken in the center’s snake- and alligator-infested environment.
The Republican-passed budget allocates a staggering $45 billion to building new prison facilities. Meanwhile essential safety net programs like Medicaid and the SNAP food program for the poor are being slashed in order to funnel more tax dollars to the obscenely rich, who include the prison and arms manufacturers. Our US Rep. Derrick Van Orden supports this budget, as does our US Sen. Ron Johnson. Many who voted for these officials may lose access to health care and be plunged into food insecurity.
Recently Trump claimed the shameful victory of bullying western European nations (only Spain held out) into increasing military budgets at the expense of their social programs. Newly elected Pope Leo XIV made this statement:
“How can one continue to betray peoples’ desires for peace with the false propaganda of rearmament, in the vain illusion that supremacy solves problems instead of fueling hatred and revenge? People are beginning to realize the amount of money that ends up in the pockets of the merchants of death and with which one could build hospitals and schools, and instead destroying those already built.” (ANSA English news, Italy, June 26)
I applaud the Pope’s directness and candor. Unlike our craven elected officials, he speaks truth to power. Why aren’t the rest of our religious leaders showing similar courage and standing up to Trump’s flagrantly cruel and anti-democratic policies?
Thomas R. Smith
River Falls
