Letters: The Big Beautiful Bill won't allow us to build strong communities

Chicago Tribune

08-07-2025

I'm trying to make sense of the world — our American world — and simply can't.
While many citizens see the act of voting as an opportunity to elect officials into office based on their own needs, values and station in life, we need to remember that a strong community breeds strong opportunity and strong people. It is this community that elected officials need to tend to, not the needs of a few individuals (including themselves).
Nearly every word in the recently passed big, heinous bill undermines the most basic building blocks of a strong community — opportunities for health, education and ability to amass wealth. I pray that in the midterms and the next presidential election, we walk into the voting booth actively considering a community perspective and get back to what our ancestors dreamed for each of us.I wish to acknowledge the cowardice and inhumanity exhibited by the Republicans in the U.S. House and Senate. As a result of their obsequious behavior, they passed a bill in which 17 million Americans will lose health care. Rural hospitals are already closing. Cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, could affect 40 million people.
I don't want a tax break if it means less for my fellow Americans. I don't want Americans dying for lack of care or hunger on my watch. I don't want detention camps built on swamps. I don't want people of color swept off the streets without due process.
We all should acknowledge where this autocratic behavior leads. This is not my America. The one word that sums up this bill is cruelty. Remember this when you cast your ballot in 2026.If you really want to make America great again, bring back the tax rate of the middle of the 20th century. Instead of raising the national debt by trillions of dollars, we would actually reduce the national debt by trillions of dollars.
Instead of giving the billionaires a major tax cut with the 'Big Beautiful Bill,' they would actually help out the country by paying more taxes.The doomsday predictions about President Donald Trump's tariffs haven't come true. Trump's method of negotiation is brass-knuckle businesslike. Nobody complains about the way the health care industry forces us to pay high prices for low-quality service.
People blame high prices on whoever is the president, no matter which party, but they rarely blame the real perpetrators of inflation: the greedy business leaders who worship the almighty dollar.
When was the last time the corporate office of Kroger and Albertsons was picketed for the high prices of groceries or the Prime Healthcare and Ascension headquarters saw protesters pleading the case for better health care choices and lower costs?
I live within walking distance of a large CSL Behring complex that provides great, high-paying jobs for the community. CSL Behring charges high prices for its products, but the facility sees no protesters.
We have a president who is fighting successfully for the U.S. consumer, and the Tribune Editorial Board is complaining.Is there a single actual conservative in the Republican Party any longer? My father campaigned for Barry Goldwater, and I have not seen a single Republican whom Goldwater would have voted for since Ronald Regan!The GOP has fallen to another low. A new Louisiana law rebrands natural gas as 'green energy,' which is a horrifying result of the indebtedness of leaders of Republican states to the petroleum industry. The word 'rebranding' makes it seem like a box of cereal, not the air we breathe.
Louisiana, Indiana and Tennessee have all passed legislation calling natural gas 'green energy.' Clearly, these governors and the state legislators believe their constituents who voted them into office are so gullible that facts and truth are unnecessary. It is indisputable that natural gas is a fossil fuel contributing to the greenhouse effect. The problem is that the entire earth shares the effect.The U.S. Agency for International Development just formally closed its doors after 60 years of global humanitarian operations. Recently, the noted medical journal Lancet published a study that concluded that the loss of this funding could lead to 14 million unnecessary deaths abroad by 2030.
How could President Donald Trump do this? Fourteen million dead people! Obviously, regarding foreign affairs, the first 'A' in MAGA stands for 'America (only).'
In that view of the world, deaths in African countries and other poor areas are simply not important. They are not Americans; they are not part of 'Make America Great Again.'
Notably, a previous Republican president, George W. Bush, had the opposite view of the world. Many believe that Bush's greatest accomplishment was his PEPFAR program, which financed HIV treatment and relief in 50 countries. PEPFAR reportedly saved around 25 million lives.
Bush responded appropriately to the USAID closing in a message to its-now unemployed workers: 'You've showed the great strength of America through your work — and that is your good heart. Is it in our national interests that 25 million people who would have died now live? I think it is, and so do you.'
Thank goodness for Bush's good heart.As I drove around the south suburbs on America's birthday, I saw many flags proudly displayed. Unfortunately, I saw one flag that was flying upside down, which is the universal sign of distress, particularly in instances of extreme danger to life or property as outlined in the U.S. Flag Code.
While I understand that these are deeply emotional times for many,.it made me think about all of the soldiers, police, firefighters and many others who risk their lives every day. Our flag represents all of those heroes who may make the ultimate sacrifice for our safety, well-being and freedom.
If you are not happy with America's current government, policies, or politics in general, then by all means please get involved with the local, state or federal governments and make your voice heard. That flag represents sacrifice, and it is an insult to those heroes and their families when it is flown upside down.
Please consider the broader impact of this particular symbol and treat it with respect and care, even in times of political dissatisfaction.