Letters to the Editor: Why Americans are radicalizing: Is it the ‘far left’ or Trump’s talk of three terms in office?

To the editor: There is always friction in a democracy between differing viewpoints. (Too many Americans believe a ‘coup’ or ‘force’ may be needed to protect their way of life,” Sept. 17) That is a healthy thing because it forces compromise. I have disagreed with policies of every president in my lifetime, from Reagan and his tax cuts to Clinton and “don’t ask, don’t tell.” I vehemently opposed Bush Jr. on waterboarding.

Never once in my lifetime, however, have I seen the dangerous deconstruction of democracy in process in the current administration. President Trump’s attacks on the news media, his manipulation of elections and his abuse of the judicial system are, to use the most common phrase in media for the last four years, “not normal.”

Nicholas Goldberg may be stretching credibility to overlook these. When the president talks about being in office for more than two terms, in direct violation of the Constitution, I am not sure how the writer could argue that an overthrow of the government would not be justified. Such an action would not be sedition, it would be the ultimate in patriotism: saving democracy from collapse.

Bill Gervasi, Ladera Ranch

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To the editor: Goldberg’s column quotes a political science professor that “about 1 in 4 Americans said that a military coup would be justified when there is a lot of crime or when there is a lot of ‘corruption.’” Another poll showed that nearly 60% of Americans are “not satisfied” with the way their democracy was working.

In speaking of democracy, Goldberg states that it can’t be healthy if so many people don’t accept the basic rules “of the game.” The only basic rule that I know of is for politicians to get elected by catering to monied groups and then making a lifetime career in office and retire a millionaire.

If ever a revolution needed a cause, there it is.

Jim Harley, Banning

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To the editor: The main problem that Goldberg identifies is that the far left, which has gradually taken over most of the organs of opinion and the
Democratic Party, has decided to resurrect its lost and beloved Soviet Union in the United States. It is frantically trying to dismantle the old culture of capitalism and freedom and replace it with an all-powerful people’s republic of wealthy elites, lording over a permanent subclass of subservient proletarians.

Those of us who haven’t been too busy or too brainwashed to notice this are simply trying to fight back. That’s what’s going on.

Patrick M. Dempsey, Grenada Hills