Letters rail against more taxation, suggest contacting elected leaders, urge people to rise up

Reject Senate Bill 5798

This letter is to voice opposition to Senate Bill 5798.

Home ownership is becoming untenable in Washington state, mainly due to rising property taxes. SB 5798 would remove caps on the rate at which homes can be taxed, which will significantly magnify this growing problem.

Since moving to Thurston County eight years ago, the mortgage rate on my family home has increased by over $300, and while that may not sound like a lot, imagine trying to absorb that increase on a fixed income.

Even if those on fixed incomes can afford their mortgage, what is left for maintenance and repairs?

My 80-year-old brother lives on a fixed income in a rental unit. His rent has increased annually, while the cost of gas, groceries, medical care, etc., has also skyrocketed.

As a result, he rarely leaves his apartment so he can keep living expenses as low as possible. When people are barely able to afford rent or mortgages, this puts every other industry at risk.

It is time to put the breaks on inflated tax rates, especially property taxes, and to balance our state’s budget with creative solutions, rather than more taxation.

Virginia Schnabel, Rochester

Response to DOGE

Numerous people, disgusted with almost daily upheaval caused by the new administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), have found a worthwhile outlet for the pent-up stress: Show up and epeak out!

Marches, rallies and protests — most held on/near Olympia’s Capitol Grounds, in support of either fired or threatened U.S. Park Rangers, Veterans Administration employees, U.S. Postal and Social Security representatives — erect a “visual and vocal barricade” to the lawless dictates of the current White House. Town halls, both in-person and virtual, including one held March 20 by U.S. Rep. Marilyn Strickland, give voice to citizens who have definitely felt left out and abandoned by the federal government.

A major result of these aforementioned events is that our elected officials state unequivocally that they want our stories, whether the issue concerns being fired without due process, an unforeseen layoff, a canceled or unpaid contract, or infuriating long waits on crisis telephone lines, etc.

This is the crucial time to contact your U.S. representatives and senators. Urge them to work on your behalf. Remember, they work for the people! And they desire to restore what has been wrongfully and illegally taken. Your compelling story (with documentation) allows Sens. Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell and Rep. Strickland to investigate and help resolve issues.

Contacting your elected officials is a good way to raise your voice way above the chaos and actively participate in our American democracy!

George Burazer, Lacey

Here we go again

January 6 was this generation’s Fort Sumter, the start of a Civil War pitting the “Government of the People” against an ideology opposed to that. Senate Republicans first condemned the January 6 attack, but later failed to take action, treating it as a tea party with uninvited guests.

So here we are four years later under the new Trump Administration’s first 100 days that are the equivalent of the sneak attack on Pearl Harbor. But, instead of sinking battleships, this administration is taking aim at shipwrecking, destroying:

• Statesmanship (NATO and Allies)
• Citizenship (Immigration and voting)
• Friendship (Canada)
• Stewardship (Land, Health, Economy)
• Leadership (Taking a knee instead of taking a stand)
• And replacing Democracy with Censorship and a Dictatorship

Make no mistake, we are in for a boatload of pain and suffering from the planned full implementation of Project 2025. Some consequences are already being felt. The great ship U.S.S. America is listing greatly to starboard and at risk of swamping.

We were at this point during the Civil War. After the Union victory at Gettysburg, President Lincoln saw hope, calling the war a “testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived, and so dedicated, can long endure.” And he praised those who fought there so that the “government of the people, by the people, and for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

So history repeats, and it will record what we the people did here so that this nation might live. Rise up.

Sterling Leibenguth, Lacey