To the editor: In the days of Jim Crow, it was often said that states’ rights had to be respected by the federal government. That same assertion of states’ rights and devolving power to the 50 states returned in the 1970s and was called the Sagebrush Rebellion in the West.
Protecting the rights of states to make their own laws and set their own regulatory standards has been a primarily Republican tenant for the past decades. The federal government has become too strong, too powerful, they said.
So what happens now? The U.S. Senate votes to nullify California’s planned transition to electric and hybrid cars (“Senate votes to overturn California’s landmark ban on new gas-only car sales,” May 22) and the federal government jumps in to keep international students out of Harvard, a private university located in the state of Massachusetts (“Trump administration bars Harvard from enrolling foreign students,” May 22).
Why is it suddenly OK to stomp on the authority of states? Why is it suddenly OK to use a power play against an educational institution that is not run by the federal government?
Edgar Kaskla, Long Beach
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To the editor: This is a further step in the Republicans’ aggressive war on efforts to improve the environment and address the worsening climate change situation. The Senate ignored warnings from both the Government Accountability Office and the Parliamentarian about the faulty legal reasoning in their actions.
The fundamental problems with their approach to the environment and climate change: dishonesty and mean-spiritedness.
Dishonesty: Downplaying and suppressing information while not acknowledging the enormous harm of unmitigated climate change as shown by overwhelming scientific evidence.
Mean-spiritedness: The indifference to the damage toward health and safety their actions will inflict on individuals and communities. For example, preventing improvement of air quality will significantly harm the health of many, including those with asthma, lung disease and heart disease.
Jack Holtzman and Irwin Rubenstein, San Diego