This paper’s decision, based on some opaque policy, to print letters to the editor on local issues only is their rightful business. This decision may rest on the belief that national affairs have little or nothing to do with Tiverton residents. Hmmm. The publisher may be right.

Perhaps there are few among us who will miss federal dollars, administered through the state, to fund kids’ summer reading programs at our library. Doubtless there are few retirees here worrying as their 401K savings shrink day by day. Possibly we will not grumble about deteriorating roads as “Mayor Pete” is no longer around to administer infrastructure funds equitably to red and blue states.  Surely our school administrators and teachers will get by without the support and resources of the Department of Education. Clearly, our looming inability to buy affordable provisions and home goods, thanks to foolish tariffs, will be of little consequence to most of us.  And when we see undocumented people taken off the streets, sometimes by balaclava-wearing agents, our sense of humanity will not be diminished. 

Surely the large, passionate Hands Off demonstration last Saturday cannot possibly represent the majority of Tiverton residents. After all, we are just provincial locavores with other things on our minds. 

Will Newman

Tiverton