To Senator Bernie Sanders

I voted for you. I cheered your 8-hour speech condemning tax cuts and subsidies for the most profitable corporations and the very richest Americans. You were saying things that cut to the very root of the problems we face, yet that no one else on the national stage seemed willing to say.

That speech gave me hope because of its basis in truth and compassion. The F-35 has no such basis. The military is a lie. It doesn’t keep us safe.

It kills people, including innocent men, women, and children, and those that are spared are transformed into enemies.

Please explain to me how you can support this weapons program with a clear conscience. Do you not count Lockheed Martin among the corporations that have derailed our political system through massive lobbying efforts and campaign donations, corporations whose profits have soared while their effective tax rates have bottomed out, the very corporations you so eloquently called out in your filibuster? And don’t tell me about the jobs that will be created or the stimulating effect it will have on the economy.

An economy based on war may fill our bellies, but it bankrupts the human spirit. And freedom that comes at the cost of innocent lives is no freedom at all.

JONAH SALZMAN

Burlington

Don’t allow continued failure in government

This year the candidates for president will spend hundreds of millions of dollars on advertising. One telling us of the heroic things he has done and the other telling us of the miraculous things he will do.

Almost everything President Obama takes credit for had to be passed by Congress. The promises made by candidate Romney must be made law by Congress to be fulfilled. The president can only veto a law; he can not pass one.

Congress has the power to address the nation’s problems, but Congress may be the nation’s most serious problem. Contact your representative and senators and ask them what they are doing about the issues that concern you. Don’t accept promises of future action. If they have not done anything since the last election why should you believe they will take action now? Don’t allow them to continue to fail by voting for them again.

IRVING B. WELCHONS III

Charlotte, N.C. Stop declaring independence

If North Bennington school is starting over again with the State Board of Education, stop using misleading words like independent and trustees.

When people hear these words they think of schools that are owned by schools and charge tuition. This is so far from the case when property owners are still paying for it all.

Why doesn’t North Bennington tell the truth: We cannot be independent and charge tuition because it would be so high no one would pay, four or five times higher then other independent schools charge.

And what was it about no students with special needs? I thought that was against the law.

If you want to use that word independent, don’t burden property taxpayers. Buy your building and charge tuition as other independent schools do.

ED COREY

North Bennington