This is still a great nation

I doubt it occurs to Larry Hill what an incredible country he lives in, where he is allowed to have published such hate-filled grandstanding as his “rebuttal” to Tom McDonald’s excellent July 4 editorial. Mr. Hill apparently does not understand the nature of humankind, where going back to the days of cavemen, humans were warring with other clans for food and hunting territory. While the United States has evolved to a higher plane, sadly much of the world continues to behave likewise. True, our Founding Fathers did not/could not address the issue of slavery in the U.S. when establishing this country and writing our constitution, which grants greater rights to its citizens than any country in the world. If Mr. Hill knew history, he would know that they wanted to, but also realized they could not succeed at the time by doing so.

It would take a civil war and millions of deaths of mostly whites to resolve that issue a hundred years later. And as to the Indians, they have been warring against each other for centuries for food and hunting grounds and both they and the white man eventually would feel they had to do the same, as despicable were the broken treaties the U.S. acted upon, to establish the country from sea to shining sea.

Mr. Hill speaks of the poverty in Las Vegas. He doesn’t seem to realize that the government he despises is the largest employer in Las Vegas. Most government workers enjoy better benefits and retirement than many in the business world. Water shortage restricts job development here. And too many people choose, by dropping out of school early and sometimes emulating earlier generations, to live on welfare. Most of the food banks, homeless shelters, etc. in the country are established and maintained by the very people he hates.

While this country is far from perfect and will be forever evolving for the better, we hope, pitting race and class against each other has been the way of dictatorships around the world. It does not build a better society or community.

Mr. Hill is entitled and protected to say whatever he wishes in the United States under the very constitution he lambastes, unlike elsewhere such as China where prison incarcerations are lower relative to greater population because they execute dissidents and even company CEOs who fail in proper production of goods (referring to the lead toy scandal some years ago). Each of us has the choice to make our lives count for, not hate, but bettering our country and community, regardless of income.

Janet Schwandt
Rociada