The Arizona Republic

I’m an older white male with a target on my back

- Gary Beck, Phoenix Contact him: Kathryn Frederick, Phoenix Justin Lake, Gilbert Mary Raseley, Phoenix

Once I was a targeted enemy for who and where I was.

Back then I was a 20-year-old Marine on the battlefiel­ds of Vietnam.

A half-century later I find myself once again a targeted enemy for who and where I am.

I am an older white male in the United States, a country I once fought for.

After this past week of news, it is clear that I and other older white males are a scourge to our nation according to leftist political groups, including elected officials in the Democrat Party.

What is patently obvious is the #MeToo movement has been hijacked and weaponized by extreme leftist activists.

I don’t fear for myself, but I do have serious concerns for where this is all heading. I also have grave concerns for my two grandsons who are heading off to their first year in college.

What challenges are they going to face in light of this increasing­ly intense social environmen­t? When we allow “everything” to become a hysterical political outrage, we are at a dangerous point of losing all our institutio­ns and even the republic itself.

We elected Jeff Flake to listen and to speak for people of Arizona

I feel that Sen. Jeff Flake actually listened to and more importantl­y heard the woman who stopped him in the elevator this past Friday.

Something in her words must have resonated with him and moved him to request an FBI investigat­ion.

I want to thank him for being open to her point of view. That is what we elected him to do; to listen to us, his constituen­ts, his neighbors, his baristas, trash collectors, police officers and teachers.

We are those who trusted him with the privilege to speak for us.

We are counting on him to listen to us and speak for us now, to be our voice.

It is not OK that a woman should be put through the torture of being sexually assaulted and then, if she is brave enough to tell her story, be abused, discredite­d and even threatened.

Why is there the double standard in this specific situation?

Why, when men came forward to report sexual assault by the Catholic Church, does no one question the validity of their stories?

So we are counting on Sen. Flake to speak for us and not simply stand with his fellow GOP Senators.

Hail to the Vultures! Hail victory! Hail to the Vultures! All for old AZ!

St. Louis lost their NFL team. Now the Cardinals should return to the metro they came from and Arizona should get an expansion team. The Cardinals had a spark of life, but they’re back to the old Cards again. The Valley needs its own original team.

Maybe the “Arizona Scorpions” or “Arizona Vultures.” Something new, fresh and born out of the desert.

Don’t waste precious newspaper space on those opioid addicts

Why did you waste so much space in Sunday’s paper on opioid addicts? If a person chooses to be a drug addict or an alcoholic that’s freedom of choice. I don’t feel sorry for any of those people.

 ??  ?? You can reach Steve Benson at 602-444-8035 or steve.benson@arizonarep­ublic.com
You can reach Steve Benson at 602-444-8035 or steve.benson@arizonarep­ublic.com

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