Washington

To the Editor: I greet you with lament from the nation’s capital. Many of you have read in my favorite weekly paper, or heard my messages in church, about our need as a country to treat each other with greater compassionate listening and love during these challenging times. COVID-19 and the events in Minneapolis serve to redouble our appeals to build bridges across all our fields of disagreement…

If you don’t live in rural America, you may well have some preconceptions about what it’s like “out here” in the heartland. It’s true, the news hasn’t been good: the worst farm economy in a generation, never-ending wet weather that has kept farmers out of the field when they can least afford it, and tariffs that are ripping apart the trading relationships that Minnesota ag producers have spent…