Readers React: Readers blame Koch brothers et al., fellow voters for election results

Voters in California once again elected Democrats to fill every statewide office -- even for contests in which party affiliation was largely irrelevant and the Republicans mounted strong campaigns -- deepening the Golden State’s blue political hue.

And most of our letter writers so far, all of them Californian and all but a few left of center, couldn’t be more disappointed.

The election day news was good for liberal Californians, but the fixation on a U.S. Congress soon to be firmly under the control of Republicans -- arguably materially less important than what happened closer to home -- has left many of our readers dismayed. We did receive a handful of letters that welcomed the shift on congressional power -- including a taunt from one regular mudslinger that “REAL AMERICANS knew you radical libs would be poor losers” -- but most were from readers who thought the election results in Washington left something to be desired. Several lamented the influence of big money on politics, while others expressed little confidence in the newly empowered Republicans’ ability to govern.

Why we have this mix of opinions is anyone’s guess. You could say that a news organization that serves primarily Los Angeles should expect most of its letters to come from left-leaning letters. A better explanation, in my view, is that angry readers tend to write more quickly and in greater numbers than those who have little to complain about. And if you’re a liberal voter the morning after congressional Republicans swept back into power, you’re probably upset (California’s results notwithstanding).

Here is a handful of reader letters on the election, some of which may run in print this week.

Jeffrey C. Briggs of Hollywood, a frequent right-leaning letter writer, says Republicans have won a mandate and now have something to prove:

The GOP will gain as many as nine formerly Democratic Senate seats -- and more importantly and tellingly, it lost none. The GOP also added significantly to its majority in the House. And perhaps most telling, the GOP extended its domination of governorships.

And this is all during what everyone seems to acknowledge is an extremely divisive time where strongly divergent views evenly divide the electorate. This election was not, therefore, about the electoral “map.” Extend the results out to other Senate races, and it is hard to see a different result.

The “mandate” is an endorsement of GOP capacity to actually operate the government. The party has two years to solidify -- or erode -- that image.

Los Angeles resident Barbara H. Bergen says the real winners weren’t on any ballot:

The big winners last night were the Koch brothers, Karl Rove and their colleagues.

I find it fascinating that the dark money poured into this election that advances the economic interests of the wealthiest business people convinces so many of those in the middle class to vote against their own self-interest. At least in California we understand that climate change, student loan debt and income inequality are the important issues of the day.

This isn’t a personality contest; it’s the futures of our children and grandchildren.

Bob Teigan of Santa Susana blames his fellow voters:

As the saying goes, in a democracy, the people get the government they deserve.

Voters gave us arguably the most right-wing Congress in our history. They also neutered a sound and solid Obama presidency for its last two years in office. A once great nation will be paralyzed politically until sometime in 2017.

This country’s greatest enemy is not Islamic State or Vladimir Putin, it’s an American population acutely complacent and ignorant of the gem of a democracy that it chooses not to participate in. How very sad for all of us.

Richard Green of San Clemente does likewise:

Instead of throwing the bums out who have resisted every effort to help the country, the American electorate has put more of the bums in office. Unfortunately, we all will reap what uninformed voters have sown.

Escondido resident Dennis M. Clausen says the Democrats invited their own defeat:

One does not have to look very far to see why Democrats fared so poorly in the midterm elections.

Their leaders, including President Obama, were much too willing to sacrifice Social Security and other bedrock Democratic Party issues and programs. In the process, they abandoned their national identity as “the people’s party” and became “the other corporate party.”

In the minds of voters, the Democrats stood for nothing. And when you stand for nothing, what you get at the ballot box is nothing.

Stacey Cole of Lancaster says the GOP isn’t the remedy for what ails this country:

Voting for the GOP because one is unhappy with the pace and quality of the economic recovery is like a cancer patient undergoing treatment who, unhappy with the pace of her recovery, decides to take up smoking.

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