Letters to the Editor: I have a dream for this nation’s Dreamers: Equality

My father used to say I was born in a log cabin (i.e., the Stanford Hospital). Now that I am approaching 70, I am proud to say, “I am a dreamer.” For example, I dream that one day the law will be colorblind, no one will be denied healthcare for any reason, at a minimum community college will be tuition-free, the water people drink will be clean and, most of all, my children will live in a peaceful world.

I also dream about today’s “Dreamers” — the young people who were brought to this country when they were little and now face deportation. I want their nightmare to end so they can remain here.

Dreamers always have shaped the American landscape. From Plymouth Rock to the Silicon Valley, their dreams have been the driving forces behind our economic, social and cultural revolutions. I don’t know for sure, but I’m guessing the next big innovations could easily come from a handful of today’s Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) Dreamers.

When I was a boy growing up in Palo Alto, my dream was to play left field for the San Francisco Giants. When I realized I couldn’t hit a curve ball, I began dreaming about going to college. After I graduated from USC, I dreamed about working on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. Two years later, my dream was to surf in the Seychelles, an island chain in the Indian Ocean. The following decade, I dreamed about living in Laguna Beach.

My point is, I have lived a long, wonderful life. Nearly every one of my dreams has come true. With this last thought in mind, I want today’s DACA Dreamers to have the same opportunity to dream big like I did. Martin Luther King Jr. and music legend John Lennon often spoke about dreams.

I would never pretend to be as eloquent or talented as they were, but still, “I have a dream.” The best part is, “I’m not the only one.”

Our Founding Fathers literally dreamed up a new nation. It’s time to honor their dream by allowing today’s DACA Dreamers to live in that new nation.

Denny Freidenrich

Laguna Beach

NRA is akin to a ‘terrorist organization’

A nation that cannot protect its innocent children from savage butchery, week after week, year after year, decade after decade, is a barbarian nation, worthy of utter contempt by the rest of humanity.

For these brutalized children there is no deadlier terrorist organization than the National Rifle Assn. (NRA) and its enablers — its entire membership, its paid stooges in Congress, the current occupant of the White House and the millions of complicit voters who keep them in office.

Shame on America!

Jamshed Dastur

Newport Beach

Investigation into signature gathering is valid

I applaud the Newport Beach City Council for undertaking an investigation of alleged “irregularities” in the Councilman Scott Peotter recall petitions. Protecting the integrity of our local elections is the foundation of our democracy. Did anyone knowingly submit fraudulent signatures? We won’t know until a thorough investigation is done by the district attorney and our city.

Bob McCaffrey

Volunteer chairman, Residents for Reform

Balboa Island

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