Call for Our Better Angels
Blowback from the election continues in the same divisive vein as the heated rhetoric before Nov. 8. A call for accurate data, vetting of sources or dependence on fact is not working since so many depend on manufactured false information to support a point of view. However, perhaps a refusal to call names or make pejorative personal comments might gain a tiny foothold in the national discourse.
If we cannot regard one another as individuals worthy of respect despite our differences, we will probably make graver mistakes with repercussions that will take a toll in lives and in our national reputation.
I want to be able to respect our leaders. I want them to tell us the truth - we're tough. We can take it. There is enough blame to go around. If we all go forward determined to prove others wrong, we will continue down this slippery slope. We must change.
Compromise is not a dirty word. It represents a sincere effort to acknowledge the idea that both sides have merit, and that common ground can be achieved without loss of face. Bring it back!
Helen Barrett
Trump wins on change vote
Why did Republican Donald Trump win the 2016 presidential race? Consider the following since Democrat Harry Truman left office in 1953:
- 1953-1961 Republican Dwight Eisenhower: Eight years
- 1961-1969 Democrats John Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson: Eight years
- 1969-1977 Republicans Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford: Eight years
- 1967-1981 Democrat Jimmy Carter: Four years
- 1981-1993 Republicans Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush: 12 years
- 1993-2001 Democrat Bill Clinton: Eight years
- 2001-2009 Republican George W. Bush: Eight years
- 2009-2017 Democrat Barack Obama: Eight years
- 2017-? Republican Donald Trump
Why did Trump win? Much can be explained by the fact that when people are suffering and discouraged, they feel change will bring better days. Sometimes they are right, but in most cases the change is minimal at best.
Glenn L. Swygart
Sewanee, Tenn.
Climate change is top national issue
Perhaps more disturbing than having elected a TV star billionaire who boasts about sexually assaulting women is that the American people have brought to power a man who denies climate change.
The next five years are epochal. Delegates from around the world convened in Paris in 2015 in a last-ditch effort to stop man from warming the Earth by a mere 2 degrees. Already, at 0.8 degrees warming, more than half of the world's marine coral systems have collapsed, and polar ice sheets have decreased by more than half. Our president-elect argues for less regulation on coal and oil and promises to tear the Paris deal into shreds. Now is not the time to be debating whether climate change is real. Now is the time for massive change at the federal and international level.
Even though our government is now controlled by a party that thrives off fossil fuel and special interest lobbying, we need to remind Trump that we are a nation of the people, by the people and for the people. And the people know the truth about climate change.
Ahmad Nisar
Dalton, Ga.
Electoral College should remain
National elections are a good time to review past civics lessons, especially on such topics as why we're a republic and not a democracy, or why we have an Electoral College. Your publication of "The electoral college is hated by many" last Sunday invites such discussion.
It now appears that Hillary Clinton won the popular vote, and yet she lost the electoral vote by significant double-digits. Some of her supporters are crying "foul," but here are some numbers that show why the Founders were smarter than they knew and why the electoral college is not likely to ever be removed by constitutional amendment.
Clinton won New York by about 1.5 million votes (much coming from New York City); she won Illinois by nearly a million votes (much from Chicago); and finally she won California by 2.7 million vote (most coming from the coastal cities). Those margins total more than five million votes, more than 10 times her advantage in the popular vote.
Would we be seriously well-served by having voters in four cities that are culturally diverse but politically monolithic choosing our president every four years? The rest of the country would likely disagree.
Gary Lindley
Lookout Mountain, Ga.
Big media needs to back off
The TFP would do well to take Michael Goodwin's advice offered in his New York Post article, "Donald Trump's win means the biased media needs to change."
I for one am tired of all The Associated Press and The New York Times reprints flooding the pages of the Times Free Press, spewing negativity toward President-elect Trump. Mr. Trump won a fair election. He deserves the opportunity to improve on the Obama's administration failed policies of the past eight years.
Robert A. Reno
Ooltewah