Trump speech shows there is a method to his madness

U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake has demonstrated a serious lack of respect to his constituency. He has voted in favor of Cabinetlevel appointees, despite a concerted effort by many Arizonans who bombarded his offices with reasoned arguments for “no” votes.

He chose not to hold in-person town halls during the recent congressional recess. He conducted a phone survey that did not ask for spoken responses, but only allowed respondents to select from a biased and limited list of his topic choices.

Finally, he held a town hall by conference call, but did not publicize the date and time. If we could not answer the phone (which rang at dinner time), we received a message saying the senator was sorry we were unable to participate.

Do you hold us in contempt, Senator Flake, or are you afraid to face your employers?

— Laurie Delaney, Sun Lakes

Pensions should be reserved for individuals of retirement age

I am all for pensions and think everyone who works deserves one but, obviously this will never happen (“Pension costs still crippling Phoenix,” Thursday).

But, why are we the taxpayers paying 40- and 50-year-old healthy adults to sit home on our dime just because they worked for 20 years?

You should not be able to draw taxpayer funded pensions until full retirement age, period.

The people who get the opportunity to earn a pension should be grateful for that and think about all the people who are paying their pensions who will never get one. — Steve Marchal, Phoenix

The Arizona Republic in its editorial comment on President Trump’s speech to Congress said that speech was the one he should have given at his inauguration. No, he shouldn’t have. The inaugural speech was designed to rattle the American cage of complacency, from the usual mealy mouthed platitudes that politicians call speeches, and to get America’s attention on issues relating to immigration, crime and the economy.

The congressional speech shows who President Trump really is. It had a message of unity and hope, and of getting down to the real work of making America great again. President Trump had it right.

And like it or not there is method to his madness. — Len Gingerich, Phoenix

Actively encouraging diversity ensures more positive progress

In Tuesday’s Opinions, Scottsdale resident Rich Warren complained that opening up the Oscars to consider people of color was “mandating” racial diversity (because otherwise it will just magically happen on its own?), that the black president of the Academy Awards had no right to be upset about the lack of representation of people of color in the Oscars, and that attempting to address the inequities makes her a “dictator.”

He expresses the opinion that the winners were not deserving; they only got the award because they were black.

For hundreds of years it was “mandated” that only white males had rights, privilege and power in this country. Laws and institutions kept women and blacks from accessing education, higher paying jobs, resources, positions of power and basic human rights.

Does Mr. Warren actually think over 50 percent of the population simply wasn’t “deserving” of these things? Without mandates now to address deep structural inequalities, these attitudes and customs will never change.

He concludes by comparing the “dictating” of equal consideration to Blacks for awards to the dictating of Trump, who mandates that only those in power stay in power. Demanding equality/equal consideration is now somehow a bad thing? The same thing as being a fascist dictator who deprives people of their rights? — Tammy Caputi, Scottsdale