When you vote for party instead of principles

We should have learned from China and Russia: This is what happens when people vote for a government of the party, by the party, and for the party (“U.S. Supreme Court set to strike down Roe v. Wade decision on abortion rights, Politico reports,” Star-Advertiser, Top News, May 4).

Unfortunately, education has never been important to Congress, so all Americans can count on are their own fingers.

Rico Leffanta

Kakaako

Raising minimum wage won’t help the needy

Helping the needy is a good thing, but causing hardship on a whole bunch of other people doesn’t make sense.

Do these people in need really want to work? If you look around, there are a lot of job openings.

Some of those in need are on drugs or have a mental condition. Why doesn’t the state resolve this before even thinking about raising the minimum wage? Raising the minimum wages will only contribute to inflation, put small businesses out of business, and create hardship on the kupuna who are on a fixed income.

Our lawmakers need to get their heads where they belong and do their job in helping the needy. Raising the minimum wages is the easy way out and only creates more problems.

Kenneth Ikenaga

Pearl City

Letter-writer wrong about COVID pandemic

In Hawaii, has anyone been more wrong about the COVID-19 pandemic than Dr. Rhoads Stevens?

In May 2020, he said that low hospitalizations are a good indicator of when it’s time to open the economy, when it’s well known by health researchers and epidemiologists that hospitalizations are a lagging indicator of virus spread (“Hospital capacity indicates it’s time to open economy,” Star-Advertiser, Letters, May 4, 2020).

Then, a year later in May 2021, Stevens put out a call to “declare the pandemic over” and move on (“Declare pandemic ended and move on,” Star-Advertiser, May 11, 2021). At that time, 578,480 Americans had died from COVID-19, and today, a year later, that number is 991,178 in the U.S. and more than 6.2 million worldwide.

No wonder he is confused about masking on international travel (“Allow others freedom to not wear masks,” Star-Advertiser, Letters, April 26).

Elliott Stevens

Seattle

Reinforce family values to reduce criminality

Five months into 2022 and Oahu has experienced five gruesome crimes committed by individuals under the age of 20. In four of these cases, the suspect appears to have known the victim.

There is a need to reinforce family values in our community.

Social programs must provide additional support if positive changes are desired.

Scott Kamiya

Chinatown

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