Both major political parties are having an identity crisis. They define themselves mostly in terms of their opposition to the other party, which they characterize as destroying the country. But outside of that opposition, they have difficulty defining who they are.

The problem becomes acute when they are governing because the left must take ownership of the parts of government that are failing, and the right must take ownership of the parts of government that work, often contradicting their professed ideology.

Worse, no one in politics seems to want to tell the whole truth about what they believe or take responsibility for the true consequences of what they say they believe.

If the government can’t resolve its issues, the prognosis for Team USA isn’t good.

Lloyd Lim

Makiki

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Park a good place for sand volleyball

In response to Michael Ferguson (“Park doesn’t need volleyball courts,” Star-Advertiser, Letters, June 23): Beach volleyball is a continually growing sport within our island community. Look at the success of the University of Hawaii sand volleyball teams.

We want to provide a place where we can encourage a sport that has become part of the Hawaiian recreational identity. The space being developed into the sand volleyball court at Ala Moana Regional Park was once an underutilized area of the park. It will become a place where more regular and comfortable play can occur. This compared to the significantly smaller area that beach users currently occupy for their sand volleyball.

In addition, several of his claims are incorrect. There are no designated volleyball courts at Ala Moana Regional Park and the walkway at Magic Island is not “in total disrepair.”

Thank you for your concern and we hope you can continue to enjoy Ala Moana Regional Park.

Nathan Serota

Public information officer, Honolulu Department of Parks and Recreation

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Why wasn’t rail built differently?

I must have missed something back when the rail was still in the planning stages. When I drive out along Farrington Highway and then North-South Road and see the rail structure just sitting there, I wonder why the decision was made to start construction out there. If the rail started at Ala Moana Center and was built west, we could have started using the train as it moved to the west. I also wondered why the line was built elevated out on the west end and not on the ground. We would have saved a bunch of money. It also occurred to me that if we had built the tunnel from the end of Fort Weaver Road to the airport area, it would have been opened years ago and we wouldn’t need the train.

Oh well! Just wishful thinking.

Joel Maimon

Ewa Beach

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UH has improved Mauna Kea efforts

A Tuesday “Island Voices” commentary cited legislative audits from 1998 and 2014 regarding the University of Hawaii’s management of Maunakea (“UH fails to address longstanding mismanagement of Mauna Kea,” Star-Advertiser).

In fact, the 2014 audit commended the university, saying “We found that UH has developed several management plans that provide a comprehensive framework for managing and protecting Mauna Kea while balancing the competing interests of culture, conservation, scientific research, and recreation.”

The university has made tremendous progress and is proud of the work by the Office of Maunakea Management, the Maunakea Management Board and Kahu Ku Mauna. A recent objective recognition of their efforts on Maunakea was the 2017 Preservation Commendation Award from the Historic Hawai‘i Foundation.

Of course, there is always more that can be done, and the university is committed to continuing to work with the community as well as the state, Office of Hawaiian Affairs and others toward ongoing improvement in stewardship of Hawaii’s precious Maunakea.

Daniel Meisenzahl

Director of media production, University of Hawaii

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There’s no defending Muslim Brotherhood

It’s downright shocking to know that there are college professors speaking out for the Muslim Brotherhood (“Is the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist group?” Star-Advertiser, June 12).

To hear George Bisharat tell it, we need to “cultivate, not alienate, our Muslim communities” by welcoming them into our schools, businesses and homes. For him to spout their beliefs is exactly how radical jihad groups recruit their new disciples.

He and many others like him are trained to warp young minds into joining the brotherhood and jihad groups, eventually becoming brainwashed members carrying out their orders.

If he is not a card-carrying member of the Muslim Brotherhood then he is most definitely a huge believer in its cause and his teachings should not be allowed in our schools.

The damage they are doing to our students is irrefutable; weed them out.

James Robinson

Aiea

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All of us can strive to protect children

It has always been known that “it takes a village to raise a child.”

Across the globe, family, neighbors and friends make a conscious decision to help raise our children. And sometimes, an unconsciously kind gesture or held-out hand is enough to bring a smile to a child’s face.

Over the short seven years of Reef Aikau’s life, his family and “village” of neighbors, school friends and teachers were blessed by this amazing young boy (“He didn’t deserve this,” Star-Advertiser, June 25).

How many innocent children must we lose before we learn to help prevent another daughter or son, sister or brother, granddaughter or grandson, from this same fate? It is with a broken heart as a mother and grandmother, that I ask myself, how can we help?

How can we as a “village” protect a child from harm?

It’s never too late to ask questions and seek answers.

My thoughts and prayers go out to the Aikau ohana.

Carol Ann Alina

Makiki