Letters to the Editor: What won’t Kevin McCarthy give up to have power? He’s totally unfit to be speaker

To the editor: What concerns me the most about the fight for speaker of the House is that Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Bakersfield) is apparently willing to give the far-right hardliners whatever they want so he can be speaker.

Let us not forget that if, God forbid, something happens to the president and the vice president, the speaker is next in line. Do we really want someone running the country who is willing to be blackmailed to make it into office?

Republicans had better take a good hard look at where this is going, because if these hardliners gain more power, then democracy as we know it is in trouble. No one willing to make these kinds of deals should be speaker.

Joyce Jacoby, Los Angeles

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To the editor: It is hard to pinpoint the exact moment the wheels came off the Republican Party. Many think it was the invasion of Iraq. No political party stays focused while defending such a murderous mistake.

Parties change. The GOP is former President Trump’s party now, but it was once the party of the president who freed the slaves. After the descendants of freed slaves struggled for and gained the right to vote, they registered Democratic, causing rural and Southern whites to switch parties. They brought along gun culture, fundamentalist religion and racism.

Our government needs two legitimate political parties. We need strong Democrats to push us to do the right thing. We need focused conservatives to counter their rapturous enthusiasm so we remain wealthy enough to do the right thing.

The Republican Party will be back.

Merle Borg, San Diego

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To the editor: After the 1994 midterm victory for congressional Republicans, then-Rep. Newt Gingrich proclaimed:

“On everything on which we can find agreement, I will cooperate. On those things that are at the core of our contract, on those things which are at the core of our philosophy and on those things where we believe we represent the vast majority of Americans, there will be no compromise. So let me draw the distinction: Cooperation, yes; compromise, no.”

Following the line through the Trump presidency and Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), we now find ourselves on the floor of the House of Representatives.

Joseph Ferreri, Los Angeles

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To the editor: You reap what you sow, Rep. McCarthy.

You fostered and encouraged the Republican Congress we now have by contorting yourself into knots to appeal to the fringe elements. You sold your soul and operated without a moral or ethical compass in a Faustian bargain to become speaker.

Unfortunately, the “Make America Great Again” representatives you aided and abetted didn’t come to Washington to govern; they came to burn the house down.

Robert Pease, Yorba Linda

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To the editor: The impact of the recent votes for a new speaker extends far beyond one politician’s dream. Consider these practical implications of a leaderless, nonfunctioning House of Representatives.

First, members-elect and their staffs cannot occupy their offices; second, no one, Democrat or Republican, will receive their paychecks; and third, if there is an international crisis, the House cannot debate or approve how the Senate and White House react.

The American electorate voted last November for a return to normalcy. What we are witnessing now is chaos. That never can be considered normal.

Denny Freidenrich, Laguna Beach

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To the editor: Pundits keep referring to McCarthy’s GOP opponents as “conservatives.” They are not conservative. The real conservatives in the Republican-controlled House are voting for McCarthy.

The roughly 20 individuals obstructing McCarthy hate what this country has become and are either reactionaries who want to return to the old days when white Christian males were all that mattered or right-wing anarchists whose only aim is to destroy.

Merrill Ring, Claremont