A combat vet: The Pentagon misspent $1B in pandemic relief money and I’m fed up.

Military spending

During my first deployment to Iraq in 2004, we were forced to weld armor onto our vehicles to protect ourselves from insurgent attacks. We weren’t provided adequate protection and many service members died, while corporate munitions makers saw profits and stock prices rise year after year.

Now, we learn that the $1 billion the Pentagon recently received to help fight coronavirus went instead to private defense contractors for jet engines, spare parts and dress uniforms.

This is yet another instance of the misplaced priorities of our leaders in Washington when it comes to actually protecting American lives.

COVID-19 has killed over 200,00 Americans, yet billions of our tax dollars go to the Pentagon. Meanwhile, the real threats facing us today — the pandemic, climate change, poverty, and more — are underfunded, mired in political debate and posturing, or totally ignored.

As a combat veteran, I want to see our tax dollars redirected to keep Americans truly safe, rather than to corporate welfare.

Matthew Hoh, Raleigh

Joe Biden

The headline “Biden, in Charlotte, vows to change ‘systemic racism,’” (Sept. 24) was a puzzler.

All prior attempts to legislate morality have failed. Joe Biden, if elected president, does not have authority to pass laws, so he must be planning to alter people’s thinking and prejudice by executive order. The article did not offer any plan for implementing the vow.

Systemic racism started in America in the 1870s with the Jim Crow laws and white supremacy and were maintained for nearly 100 years by the political party in power.

With 40 some years in government and with power to pass laws, wonder why the former vice president didn’t solve the problem ages ago.

William Taylor, Wendell

Fomenting hatred

Regarding “What are the never-Trumpers thinking?” (Sept. 25 Opinion):

I am writing to help J. Peder Zane understand why a voter who has natural inclinations toward libertarianism finds Donald Trump so dismaying.

I could go on about his many transgressions, but it all boils down to this fundamental truth: Trump’s entire political edifice is based on fomenting hatred toward the other.

Hatred is constantly simmering beneath the surface in human affairs, it doesn’t take much prodding for it to boil over and lead to atrocities. It is incredibly dispiriting to watch the president of this country spew invective daily. I applaud those few Republicans who have the moral fiber to take a principled stand against Trump’s actions.

Andrew Yates, Chapel Hill

Transfer of power

Many Republican senators commented on President’s Trump’s comment regarding the peaceful transfer of power. These senators all said there will be peaceful transfer of power to the next elected president. The president basically said he will not accept the result unless he is the winner. The question is how anyone will believe these senators after what they have said regarding the selection of next Supreme Court justice. They proved themselves to be untruthful. Now, how the country will believe these statements?

Apan Basu, Durham

Democracy

Let me make this perfectly clear. Anyone who does not accept the rule of law, a person’s right to vote, a peaceful transition of power does not believe in democracy and should not be a member of the U.S. government. Many have died fighting to defend those rights and they must now be defended at all costs.

You cannot undermine our freedoms, our rights and our elections and say you believe in America. Vote out anyone in government who supports overturning the will of the people. It is very easy to lose a democracy. It is very hard to get it back.

Michael Medina, Cary

What’s needed next

We have witnessed an overload of crises in these last few months, from the COVID-19 pandemic through the wildfires in our Western states. The turn away from science and evidence-based facts by the Trump administration and the GOP-controlled Senate has amplified the devastation beyond what it might have been.

I am writing to urge all candidates for office to pledge their efforts toward building a future in which we are more able to counter the impacts of the pandemic, of climate disasters, and racial injustice. Only that will mean our country has a chance to recover what it stands for, with an equal chance for economic and social equality for all.

Sarah Stein, Raleigh

Durham tax plan

Hats off to Durham County! We received our property tax assessment bill today and were surprised and happy to learn about a new plan to defer taxes for residents hit hard income-wise during the pandemic — the Long-Term Payment Plan Deferral Program.

We really like that the effort includes a community fundraising initiative to raise money to help low-income folks pay the interest and fees charged on the deferred balance. My husband and I plan to make a contribution.

M.J. Pearle, Durham