Trump’s military parade nothing but an ego trip

When I read that Trump wanted a “really great parade to show our military strength,” I was disgusted that the man who Tammy Duckworth has named “Cadet Bone Spurs” and a “fivedeferment draft dodger” wanted a parade solely for his ego. Both Senators Tammy Duckworth and Dick Durbin oppose the military spectacle.

I know what my dad would have thought if he were still alive. He would say that the parade would be a wasteful use of taxpayer money and nothing like the displays he participated in during his career as a member of the Army Corps of Engineers.

When we were stationed in France, my father participated in a parade as a show of the Allies’ regard for each other.

My dad was also awarded a Bronze Star in Vietnam for his valor and for defending his country, as the engineers were in front of the troops, clearing the jungle.

However, my dad would know Trump’s request not as small indulgence, but as a vain- glorious fantasy to make himself feel better. The military’s job is not to make the president happy and stroke his ego, but to defend and protect our democracy. Too many have paid a price for that. Melanie Lee, Lake View

It’s not state’s job to rule on our pain treatments

Americans should now be well past the point where they have to get government permission to save their own lives or remove their own pain. The Illinois Department of Public Health needs to get past the point of forbidding the use of marijuana or anything else— especially if replaced with far more dangerous opioids. The department needs higher priorities than preserving its own powers (“Pain defines my life, but medical marijuana could change that”— Feb. 8). Richard E. Ralston, executive director of Americans for Free Choice inMedicine

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