Letters to the Editor: The Iowa caucuses’ silver lining? Paper ballots are saving the day

To the editor: The media have jumped on the delayed results in Iowa as some kind of failure, when it is potentially a notable success.

The failure of the new smartphone app used by the Democratic Party to tabulate the results demonstrates the significance of being able to rely on paper backup rather than putting all our faith in electronics that are susceptible to hacking, outages, bad programming and other failures.

Praise for the Democratic Party in Iowa for taking the time to get it right and not feeling pressured by an arbitrary sense of urgency.

Drew Katzman, Van Nuys

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To the editor: Shame on the Democratic Party in Iowa. It had four long years to prepare for the famous Iowa caucuses, the first presidential nomination contest in the country, and the Democrats blew it big time.

If you are testing a brand new system of reporting and you hadn’t done enough trial runs to make sure it works perfectly, you should have a backup.

This is gross incompetence and inexcusable.

Charles Blankson, Fontana

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To the editor: What we’re seeing is the disarray that is inherent in the Democratic Party.

This is what happens when your political platform is split between the desire to be rid of President Trump and proposing programs that will bankrupt the country — neither of which are valid platforms.

What really astonishes me is the relentless tenacity of a group of people who have in large part lost their fundamental purpose in this country. That, I believe, is the reason behind the push to go even further to the left.

It’s like a drug addict who has developed a tolerance and must have more of the stuff to approach the same high. Well, I think we’re approaching an overdose of leftist radicalism.

Arthur G. Saginian, Santa Clarita

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To the editor: Can someone please tell me why Iowa has so much influence on party presidential nominees?

It has gotten so out of hand that candidates spend a year in Iowa, munching on corn at the county fairs, having endless meals in greasy diners and shaking hands with a zillion people during flu season, while wasting millions of dollars of their campaign funds in the process.

The award for Sharpest Tool in the Shed goes to two candidates: Michael Bloomberg, for skipping the whole thing, and Sen. Amy Klobachar, who gave her stump speech early Monday night and grabbed all the network time before people gave up and went to bed.

William Green, Granada Hills

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To the editor: Will Rogers said that when people asked him about his political affiliation, he would say that he did not belong to any organized party, that he was a Democrat.

Rogers could now be an honorary Iowan.

Larry Harmell, Granada Hills