Based in Sydney, Australia, Foundry is a blog by Rebecca Thao. Her posts explore modern architecture through photos and quotes by influential architects, engineers, and artists.

Headed in the right direction

Headed in the right direction

To the Editor,

I would like to clarify a few issues raised in last week’s letter by Parisa Zangeneh in response to my letter in the July 31 edition of the Swarthmorean.

For me, federalism is defined as a relationship between a central government sharing responsibility with smaller governments, such as our states and local governments. I believe the constitution clearly defines the role for our federal government. Over time, we have allowed our federal government to exceed the role which was intended by the constitution and our founders.

To Parisa’s second point, I believe we are indeed unique. Many civilizations have had many aspects of our society, but not all. Our founders borrowed from many ideals throughout history. Although our nation initially did not live up to the ideals the founders spelled out, it has evolved to live up to the political, natural, and individual freedoms which make us unique as follows: First, we believe we were chosen by God and believe in the values in the Old Testament; second, we have self-government, formed by the consent of the governed; third, we recognize natural law, that we are created equal in that we all have the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; fourth, our government is not above the law.

As to Parisa’s third point, I have read how socialist nations do control the means of production. Look at Cuba. While I am no scholar on socialism, we do not want our central government controlling the means of production which leads to scarcity and little choice. Say no to universal healthcare.

We have an election in a couple months. Unfortunately, our problems will not be solved until we have term limits and our representatives stop allowing corporations to control our government and influence our laws. Congress makes the laws, but we only have ourselves to blame if we re-elect our representatives like Mary Gay Scanlon who fail us.

We need a lot more than Trump to get us there, but I firmly believe Trump is trying to take us in the right direction. Ask yourself, do you really believe after 47 years in government, Biden has anything to offer?

Jim Riviello
Swarthmore

Girls to grownups: Vote!

Girls to grownups: Vote!

WSSD is getting it right

WSSD is getting it right