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Newsom’s talk of
democracy is hypocrisy
Re: “Newsom is acting to defend democracy” (Page A6, Aug. 26).
Barry Gardin says efforts by Texas to minimize the voices of certain voters while maximizing the voices of others go against the Constitution and the spirit of democracy, and he defends Gov. Newsom’s attempts to gerrymander California’s congressional districts.
California has 43 Democrats and nine Republicans in Congress. The new congressional maps Newsom is asking voters to approve (maps that were created in secret with no public input) have the goal of having 48 Democrats and 4 Republican members of Congress. In the 2024 election, Trump won 38% of the California vote. If Newsom has his way, the 4 Republicans would only make up 8% of the California congressional delegation.
Is this what you call the spirit of democracy? I call it hypocrisy.
Martin Wilmington
Hayward
Oppose Texas’ return
to the bad, old days
In a Democracy, the rule is that “we the people” choose our leaders. This is a founding principle enshrined in the Constitution. We have laws like the Voting Rights Act and the concept of one person, one vote that prevent “rigging.” What Texas is doing by rigging its elections is removing the people’s ability to choose their leaders. In fact, they are sending the entire country back to the bad old days of rigging elections, as we saw in the Jim Crow South or Mayor Daley’s Chicago.
California is being brave and bold in protecting the ability of people to choose their leaders by neutralizing the vote-rigging actions of the Texas Legislature and Gov. Greg Abbott. As California citizens, we can’t let other states rig federal elections without repercussions and protections. Californians, stand tall and proud, and cast your vote for Proposition 50.
Molly Hermes
El Cerrito
Support our temporary
change to mapping
We are losing our democracy, our rule of law and our way of life because one party has decided to throw it all away in order to kowtow to one man, who is willing to overthrow our Constitution just to stroke his ego and line his pockets.
Gov. Newsom is recommending a temporary solution to counteract that power grab by reconfiguring additional districts, equalizing the gerrymandered redistricting done in Texas and in other “red” states. We are literally fighting for our lives because the Republican Party wants to ensure that there will never again be another fair election. Oh, there will be elections, alright, like in China and Russia, but the outcome is known.
I, for one, am willing to vote for a temporary measure in an effort to retain our vanishing democracy. I will fight fire with fire.
René Besold
Castro Valley
Newsom’s remapping
proposal is justified
It was refreshing, on Aug. 26, to see the number of letters to the editor condemning the egregious Texas redistricting power grab, and supporting Gavin Newsom’s action to counter it.
Let’s hope that few California voters fall for Charles Munger’s disingenuous flyer telling Californians to vote against the state’s redistricting. Redistricting, as blatantly initiated by Texas Republican lawmakers, is yet another “dirty trick” for which one political party, dating back to at least the time of Richard Nixon, is famous.
Such behavior is justified as tactical retaliation, as is Newsom’s action. However, most people would be ashamed to lead off with such sneaky and underhanded behavior.
William Gilbert
Lafayette
Trump’s words about
US flag ring hollow
Re: “Trump seeks to jail people who burn flag” (Page A1, Aug. 26).
Growing up in the 1950s, we were taught to honor the U.S. flag. In the ’60s and ’70s, I opposed its desecration.
However, when a president who avoided Vietnam service and whose supporters attacked the Capitol on January 6 condemns flag burning, it rings hollow. Such statements carry more weight coming from true veterans and heroes, such as Sen. John McCain or Air Force General Robin Olds.
Gordon Steele
Moraga
Unruly Americans will
take back country
Rich man, poor man, beggar man, thief: They all came to the New World, not always voluntarily. After almost two centuries, they did something totally unexpected. They fought and won a war against the most powerful empire on the planet. These unruly people who had been kicked out of Europe. These Americans.
Our most basic attribute is that we are and always have been an unruly bunch.
Unruly is difficult to govern. Unruly makes laws and then doesn’t follow them. Unruly can be dangerously unpredictable and cruel, and it is also intensely creative and intensely independent. Unruly elected our current government. Unruly will throw them out and reclaim our constitutional rights.
After all, America is a culture, and Americans are a people as distinctive as the cultures we all immigrated from. In America, the people are the leaders. The government works for us.
Nancy Thornton
Concord