The Berkshire Eagle: Letter: Re-elect Markey to fight for planet
To the editor:
I recently contributed to Sen. Ed Markey’s re-election campaign. I wanted to do it even though it’s a diversion of resources from the larger effort to put a Democrat in the White House. And that’s only part of the problem with Joe Kennedy challenging Markey.
Ed’s re-election will also divert time and energy from helping Elizabeth Warren or any other Democrat defeat the most corrupt president in our history. Joe should take his boyish Kennedy looks and famous Kennedy name and help defeat Republicans around the country instead of attacking a good, solid Democrat at home.
These are desperate times, not a time to countenance blind ambition. We have serious problems to solve and we need serious people to solve them. Markey is serious. He has decades of dedication to working families, women’s rights, gun safety — and the environment.
That’s why U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez endorsed Markey. Earlier this year she and Ed co-authored the Green New Deal, but Ed’s commitment to this cause goes way back. Almost 40 years ago, he urged “a new energy vision” for America at the 1980 Democratic National Convention. “Within 20 years renewable resources could deliver more than one-quarter of our nation’s energy, and within 50 years we could be a truly solar society,” he said, adding that power from the sun “will leave our earth unravaged.”
Locally, we know Ed’s with us, too. In January 2017, he joined 2,000 Trump resisters in the Four Freedoms march in Pittsfield to protest the hate and bigotry emanating from the White House. He is a longtime supporter of the assault weapons ban and is endorsed by NARAL. For all of these reasons and more we need Ed Markey. So, let’s return Ed to the Senate, where he can continue fighting for our families, our values and our planet.
Lee Harrison,
Williamstown
