A few simple answers to Mike Fuselier’s simple questions.

Yes, I like the direction our country is heading. I like governance not grievance from the White House. I like a President working on infrastructure, clean air/water, Medicare for all, affordable day care and college, equal pay for equal work, making voting easier and sensible gun laws. “Defund the police’ is Trumplican propaganda to keep the base aroused. It simply means looking at policing methods and channeling funds in different ways to do it better, not eliminating police. Yes, I’m concerned about government spending, but I ask Mr. Fuselier if he was as concerned when Trump was running up the debt 33.62 percent in his one term. What did happen to that national debt clock that FOX News/Republicans loved to flaunt when Obama was President? It suddenly disappeared in 2016. School choice is a nice euphemism for turning education into a for profit enterprise. Public education is a great American institution and our best efforts should go to making it the best we can. I do like the idea of having a sensible national discussion about gun violence and I do not think the 2nd Amendment is any way threatened by that. Regarding “socialist healthcare,” I like my Medicare just fine and it is past time for the USA to join all other developed nations in providing guaranteed access to health care to all citizens. I sincerely hope Biden is successful in getting us closer to that goal. I am very fine with educators teaching children true history and the ramifications of it. It is vital to our free society that people understand where we have been and where we are, particularly as it pertains to race in America. I do not think teaching true history and teaching reading, writing and arithmetic are mutually exclusive. Big Tech and media are vast and complex and resist a simple answer to a simple question. I don’t like conservatives using the term “mainstream media” as a synonym for incompetence or dishonesty because they don’t like the facts reported by certain outlets. I will posit that there are thousands of good professional journalists doing their job well and it is vital for a free people to know the difference between facts, opinion, truth, lies and propaganda. The proliferation of communication methods makes that very difficult. Regarding the USA turning into a Banana Republic, the closest we have ever been to that was from November 3, 2020 to January 20, 2021 when a defeated President created a baseless Big Lie that the election was stolen. I didn’t like the resulting turmoil and I am sick and tired of politicians who did not stand up for the truth then and continue now to profit politically by letting the Big Lie continue to exist.

ED GRANGER

NEW IBERIA