Great reasons to vote for Bernie

The problems that our country faces are difficult and complex. I’m supporting Sen. Bernie Sanders because he is the only candidate who has consistently shown the personal integrity, ideals, and plans to solve these problems.

He supports a fair tax system that makes the most wealthy and corporations pay their fair share, including a tax on Wall Street speculation. Banks “too big to fail” would be broken up so that we don’t have to bail them out again.

Sanders’ plans are both practical and affordable so that everyone in the middle class gains essential benefits of a more ideal society:

• Health care for all, as in every other developed country. Health care is a right, not a privilege.
• As a physician, I have known many people who have suffered illness because they could not afford or did not have adequate insurance for medical care. It was disingenuous for Hillary Clinton to say that Sanders wanted to tear up Obamacare and completely start over. He wants to expand Medicare as a single-payer system, which would be much more cost-effective, as bargaining for less expensive drugs.
• Action to stop climate change to avoid massive devastation of our environment, which is ultimately the basis of our world economy.
• Free public education, including college, to prepare us to compete in the 21st-century world market.
• Expansion and stabilization of Social Security, promotion of racial justice, women’s rights, and comprehensive immigration reform.

Please caucus for Sanders because he will serve all of us, not just the wealthy few.

Sanders will be at the Field House on Saturday at 7 p.m. with Vampire Weekend, Foster the People, and the Awful Purdies. Doors will open at 5:30 p.m.

by John Macatee

Exploiting student athletes for political purposes

Donald Trump began his rally in Iowa City Tuesday by bringing some of the Iowa football team on stage with him. These amazingly talented young athletes have worked hard and performed with consistent excellence to make it to Big Ten athletics.

I am shocked and appalled that their coaches and our newly installed university president would allow them to be exploited in this way. I say this knowing these athletes are old enough to vote, and perhaps some, or maybe all, of them were excited to go and support this candidate.

Regardless, I doubt they had much choice. Whether or not NCAA rules were violated, it is still unethical for those in a position of power at this university (coach, staff, faculty) to ask students to support a political candidate.

The football team was brought in to support the Republican front-runner at a university with a Republican Board of Regents appointed by a Republican governor. It’s a shameful and manipulative action carried out by those who should instead be protecting these student-athletes. Allowing Trump to meet with and then showcase these athletes for his benefit was not only unethical, it is deeply ungrateful.

As if these athletes don’t already do enough for this university? Their talent brings in millions of dollars every year, and they attract a massive fan base. Now they have to support Republican politicians? I suppose I can’t claim to be shocked after witnessing the “search” for the new university president. It is abundantly clear that the governor’s appointed regents and their extended political arm of university leadership feel they can act without consequence, even when it involves the political coercion of students.

­­by Nina Morrison

Bush’s loan plan good for students

Student-loan debt, totaling more than $1.3 trillion, is the second highest debt in the U.S., right behind mortgage debt.

When students default on their federally backed loans, taxpayers are left holding the bag. That’s not good for taxpayers or the economy. A better system would provide more affordable options for postsecondary education students and help them manage and repay their loans.

Former Gov. Jeb Bush has proposed such a plan that ensures loan repayment is predictable and affordable. It also eliminates the confusing financial-aid application process, protects students who are unemployed or underemployed, eliminates defaults, drives down costs, and ensures that colleges have skin in the game.

Under Bush’s system, students have access to innovative types of education and training, along with information needed to evaluate schools and training programs. It’s a plan that ensures all Americans have the opportunity to pursue an affordable higher education and successfully repay their debt.

by Alexa Den Herder

RE: Sanders’s health-care plan

In response to The Daily Iowan editorial “Sanders’ health-care plan too idealistic”:

America has been the land of idealism of past can-do-generations that did great things in harmony with the motto: “THE DIFFICULT WE DO TODAY, THE IMPOSSIBLE MAY TAKE A DAY OR TWO LONGER.” Providing universal health care for all is not a remarkable accomplishment as has been proven in every other advanced land on Earth whose people have it.

Our nation moving on to universal health care for all should not await the passing of decades and can be done and should as have other things by past generation—such as in the less than four years of winning World War II of America becoming the Arsenal of Democracy when in short order a team of people produced something the masses of us had never even heard of or knew was possible: atomic energy.

Good God, if this editorial reflects the impoverished attitude of the coming generation, turn out the lights, the party is over on the American.

Dream that has been an emerging reality for past generations. It is time to join with Bernie Sanders and prove that this is another one of America’s Greatest Generations.

by Sam Osborne, UI grad 1959, 1967

Cole owes Iowa City an answer

The public may know that Rockne Cole personally sued the City Council in 2013 over a downtown-zoning issue (Iowa Coalition Against the Shadow and Rockne Cole vs. City Council of Iowa City).

Last year, the District Court dismissed this case, finding that Cole lacked any “standing to sue” because he could show no personal or legal interest in the litigation or the property. Cole, who was running for City Council at the time, appealed the ruling. As of today, it is still active in the court of appeals.

Despite his election to the council, Cole continues to pursue his lawsuit. As a citizen of Iowa City and taxpayer, I ask Cole to explain how he plans to serve on the City Council and simultaneously sue it.

by Bob Long, Iowa City resident