Don’t nationalize elections
In 1973, White House counsel John Dean famously warned President Richard Nixon that the Watergate coverup was a “cancer within — close to the presidency.” He cautioned that this corruption would consume Nixon’s presidency, if allowed to fester. History proved him right, as Nixon resigned in disgrace.
Today, that warning rings with renewed urgency. By appointing Kurt Olsen as Director of Election Security and Heather Honey as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Election Integrity — both known election deniers — Trump has, I believe, institutionalized systemic subversion. With his intent to nationalize elections on the heels of these appointments, the administration looks as if it is poised to seize state-run processes, despite no constitutional authority to do so.
Had it not been for the stabilizing counsel from the president’s first-term advisers, who have since been replaced with yes-men and ideologues, the republic may not have survived. With these guardians of democracy gone, the American experiment may not survive.
— Jim Paladino, Tampa
America is becoming Orwellian
It seems that George Orwell was insightfully accurate in the predictions made in his novel “1984.” The book explains the world order as three despotic governments that horrifically dominate their citizens, control their respective satellite allies and are always at war. America, China and Russia seemed to have assumed those roles. The massive surveillance imposed on their populations, the masked armed thugs of ICE seem to be the equivalent to Orwell’s “Thought Police,” ensuring citizens’ strict obedience. The detention centers, possibly re-education centers, operated in total secrecy for capricious punishments. The world has devolved into the worst-case scenario of oppression, bigotry and hatred. I never thought I would have to live to see the day that the government of the people, by the people and for the people perished from the earth. I am glad I am very old.
— S.M. Feiner, Orlando
Reason and emotion work together
In the Feb. 17 Guest Commentary, “Spring cleaning should include mind de-cluttering,” the writer recommends Sudoku: arranging the numbers 1–9 without repetition in rows and columns. While Sudoku’s meditative benefits are real, I differ with the idea that rational and emotional experience are separate. Emotions are not the opposite of reason; they are part of how we process information, assess risk, and assign value. They are, in fact, rational responses to lived experience. Reason and emotion are not rivals; they are partners.
— William Higgins, New Smyrna Beach
A courageous grand jury acts wisely
I read with interest that a grand jury in Washington, D.C. refused to indict six members of Congress who appeared on video to remind members of our armed forces that they should not obey illegal and/or unconstitutional orders from their commanding officers or the Trump administration.
The grand jurors stood up for their country when they said no to the U.S. attorney who presented this “case.”
It seems that the U.S. Attorney’s office in Washington forgot to answer for themselves the first question a prosecutor faces — namely, has a crime been committed? — before trying to prosecute anyone.
The likelihood of conviction might have been close to zero, too, which should have raised further concerns. It seems that slowly but gradually, we as a nation are waking up to the dangers Trump and his ethics-challenged aides are creating with their ruthless, unlawful acts.
— John Countryman, Plantation
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