04-07-2025
- Politics
- San Francisco Chronicle
Letters: What do freedom and liberty mean on this Independence Day?
Last month, at a D-Day Memorial event in France, 101-year-old veteran Harold Terrens said, 'Freedom is everything. I pray for freedom for the whole world.'
President Dwight D. Eisenhower once said that the Founding Fathers 'proclaimed to all the world the revolutionary doctrine of the divine right of the common man."
Proclaiming that all men are created equal and carry with them God-given rights to life and liberty was indeed a revolutionary idea 249 years ago. Unfortunately, not everyone in the world lives freely.
The United Nations' Declaration of Human Rights states, 'All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.'
Let us hope and pray that someday soon, every man, woman and child in the world will enjoy the same freedoms that we Americans enjoy this Independence Day.
Pete Campbell, San Jose
Honor founding ideals
As we celebrate the 249th anniversary of Independence Day, we should ask ourselves the same question that President Donald Trump struggled to answer from the Oval Office recently: What does the Declaration of Independence mean to you?
Unfortunately, Trump's response was a manifestation of his historical illiteracy — 'a declaration of unity and love and respect, and it means a lot.' It had nothing to do with the decision of the Founding Fathers to declare independence from British rule by seeking 'to dissolve the political bands' with an oppressive monarchy.
Independence Day should serve as a reminder that thousands gave their lives to escape the bonds of a government where a single person held supreme authority. It is a day set aside to commemorate the birth of our nation and to celebrate its core principles of liberty and equality, something inexcusably outside of the president's grasp.
Jim Paladino, Tampa, Fla.
Community led the way
Only after that did Supervisor Joel Engardio support a nonbinding resolution — Proposition G — which voters passed overwhelmingly.
Let's be clear: Engardio did not start this movement. He was invited in after the heavy lifting was done. It's wrong for him to now take credit as a campaign talking point.
Public education deserves more than opportunistic politics. Our children deserve leaders who lead from the start — not just when it's popular.
Selena Chu, San Francisco
Trash the new cans
Regarding 'S.F.'s quest for a better trash can was plagued by high costs. Will this time be different?' (San Francisco, July 1): This story brings back memories of the original interminable squabbles over the cost and design of new San Francisco garbage cans. I recall the mock-ups as ugly and impractical.
It is hard to believe, given the city budget deficit, that Public Works has decided to spend $3,000 each for 3,000 new cans.
The chosen design looks like shiny stainless steel and is covered with multiple, vertical and elevated strips of metal. Imagine the difficulty cleaning the graffiti embedded in all those recessed areas.
A sleek, simple and flat design should have won the day.
Karen Cliffe, San Francisco
Don't mince words
Let's skip the cute names like 'Alligator Alcatraz' and call the Trump administration's new Florida immigration detention center what it is: a concentration camp.
Prisoners at the real Alcatraz landed there after going through a trial, not just being rounded up by masked goons without warrants.
Our country is headed in a bad direction, and it's important for us to speak about it truthfully.
Siobhan Ruck, San Francisco
