Letters to the Editor: It’s time for newspapers to take a stand for democracy

To the editor: I was heartened to see Jackie Calmes’ column on the slow-moving coup that is the Republican Party.

Along with voter suppression and the replacement of honest election officials, there are also laws passed in a number of red states allowing partisan officials to overrule legitimate election results. There’s also gerrymandering and much more.

The GOP leadership is fully on board with this. This crisis is more important than any issue because without a functioning democracy, we can do nothing but sink into oblivion.

Yet most people seem unaware of this existential threat. Many of The Times’ letter writers complain about President Biden, take issue with Democrats on this and that, or declare their political independence. All this fails to recognize the greatest threat facing this country.

We are a train heading for a cliff unless enough people wake up to what is about to happen. That is why I don’t understand why the press isn’t making more of this. Why isn’t every decent newspaper announcing this danger to democracy every morning in banner headlines on the front page?

Most people don’t know about this threat, so please don’t leave them in ignorance. Nothing else can save us.

Steven Schechter, Thousand Oaks

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To the editor: Calmes rightly warns of former President Trump’s intensified efforts to put his rabid supporters into positions of power over the mechanics of all U.S. elections.

However, we should recall that part of this plan is to promote like-minded products of the Federalist Society into judgeships, from the Supreme Court on down the judicial ladder to at least the lowest level where such judges have sway over election questions.

With success in that arena as well, future legal challenges to election outcomes will have a steeper hill to climb to ensure the real winner gets the seat. Thus, keeping Republicans from a majority in the Senate, where judges are confirmed, becomes crucial.

David L. Burdick, Ridgecrest, Calif.