Biden will lead
a split nation
President-elect Joe Biden commented in his victory speech that it was time for Americans to come together and heal. I sincerely wish him the best. He needs the wisdom of Solomon and the compromising ability of Henry Clay to accomplish this. Our country has not been this divided since before the Civil War.
If one was to study the electoral map, 25 states voted Republican and 25 voted Democratic. As a rule, urban areas voted for Democrats while the rural areas voted Republican. Most Republicans are conservative and believe in capitalism, law and order, equal opportunities for education and income. They also mostly believe in individual accountability. They also believe in the sovereignty of state and local governments.
Most Democrats are to some scale liberal, with the farthest left believing in socialism and defunding the police. They believe in income and educational equality. Many also believe in group accountability (“It takes a village”). Many also believe that the federal government should take care of everyone.
There are many other opposing beliefs between the Democrats and Republicans. I firmly believe that the only way this country can survive is to have moderates from both sides meet and try to compromise the differences without giving up on core values
Thomas Wenzel
East side
Sedition by tweet
The definition of sedition is: the act of encouraging rebellion against the government, or an action that promotes such rebellion, such as through speech or writing. Donald Trump has tweeted “#OVERTURN.” Why has he not been charged with sedition?
Kathleen Dubbs
West side
Brnovich’s actions will be remembered
I am appalled Attorney General Mark Brnovich decided (on behalf of all Arizonans) to add Arizona to the lawsuit designing to overturn the legally decided presidential election.
He has disgraced the great state of Arizona. Voters will certainly remember this treasonous action.
George Francuski
North side
No pardon, no way; Trump must face justice
Re: the Dec. 11 letter “Biden should pardon Trump.”
This letter, written by a self-described “liberal Democrat,” urges Joe Biden to pardon Donald Trump, using Gerald Ford’s pardoning of Richard Nixon as his model. This “would be a win for Biden and the country,” since a Trump pardon would “turn down the heat” and “mollify half the nation.”
Really! So that’s how you deal with thugs and bullies — “mollify” them!
Trump is a career-long liar and grifter who only escaped conviction for his high crimes and misdemeanors because of the cynicism, partisanship and cowardice of the Republican Senate.
Several of Trump’s loyal enablers have already been sent to jail for doing their master’s bidding (as also happened in Nixon’s time). Justice demands that Trump answer for his crimes. I, for one, don’t consider the Nixon pardon as anything but a blot on our history.
David Steinberg
Northwest side
Schools should return to the basics
Resistance to virus measures today is a sure-fire sign of the failure of our schools to teach both citizenship and health. These once-important parts of the curriculum are now dead letters in the school alphabet.
Studies on knowledge and funding statistics back this reality. Schools need to get back to the fundamentals of sound social instruction.
Kimball Shinkoskey
Downtown
Truly caring
for democracy
We are blessed to live in a democracy — a blessing we all need to care for and nurture.
Foundational to democracy is accepting the outcome of everyone’s choice, even if the election result differs from our own choice, not finding artificial reasons to reject or suppress the choice made by other voters. Artificial reasons are bad faith, dishonest, un-American and pernicious to a democratic society.
Claims of fraud are as serious as accusing a person of murder or rape. False claims are a bearing of false witness that violate the Ninth Commandment, undermine our democracy and damage our nation.
It is time for all of us to take better care of our democracy by insisting claims of fraud have an honest evidentiary foundation. We need to reject those making false claims as frauds, instead of accepting an end-justifies-the-means effort to short-circuit our democracy. That is truly putting America first.
Keith Shelman
Midtown
Person of the year?
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are “The Person of the Year” according to Time Magazine. Is this the same Joe Biden who hid in his basement for most of the year? Is this the same Kamala Harris who called out Joe Biden as a racist during the Democratic Primary debate?
Wow, how the standards in the United States have changed. Disgraceful!
Walt Johnson
Foothills
Electoral College defense is inane, not practical
Re: the Dec. 11 article “A practical defense of the Electoral College.”
The “practical” defense of the Electoral College is laughable. His point that it amplifies the results of the popular vote makes no sense. It went against the popular vote in two of the last five elections.
To his point that candidates campaign intensively in just a few states: If campaigns had to truly go national they would not have the resources to do that. More importantly, the people in the 40-plus noncontested states would have reason to care about voting. Does the author really want a system where three-quarters of the nation are marginalized?
I’m 70 and this is the first time I can remember living in a contested state. His point that the legal challenges would be intense nationally assumes Donald Trump’s inability to concede is not an aberration. God forbid!
David Bachman-Williams
Downtown
