Readers write
Column calls to mind respected conservatives of years past
The recent guest opinion column penned by former Sen. Mack Mattingly (“Return to the basics of Ronald Reagan’s 11th Commandment”) was incredibly meaningful to me, a 77-year resident of the state of Georgia.
He called to my mind conservatives I respected and, although primarily a Democrat, voted for. People like Johnny Isaacson, Paul Coverdell, Nathan Deal and others. A time when I had a choice based on policy, character and integrity.
A time that sadly is no more. I am now forced to vote for Democrats regardless of my opinion of the candidate and their stance on the issues because the Republican Party has, as Sen. Mattingly points out, become a cult of Trump worshipping sycophants. There are still conservatives whom I believe are worthy of my vote, former Georgia GOP Lt. Gov. and now Democratic gubernatorial candidate Geoff Duncan for one, and perhaps others. But, as Duncan discovered, if one speaks out against the tyrant in the White House, you will be excommunicated by your own party.
Our system of checks and balances has been corrupted by a complicit Congress and a renegade Supreme Court. If neither of these institutions are willing to check the corruption in the White House that is taking this country to new lows, the only option is to vote for the opposition party. That is assuming that there will be an opportunity to vote in 2026 and 2028. There could be a pretend emergency.
STEVE MERLIN, MARIETTA
Keep filibuster, end Congress pay
I have no problem with a Senate filibuster for future government funding or shutdowns, as long as Congress and its staff are not paid during any shutdown.
I’ll bet that with those requirements, all shutdowns will be very short. If at all.
JAMES PARRY, CANTON
Nonpartisans should draw state’s voting districts
Who will represent me in our government? I am a politically moderate independent. Georgia’s current method of drawing political districts needs to be changed. Gerrymandering districts by the party in power in the state legislature has resulted in most districts being so solidly Republican or Democratic that moderate independents have no one to represent them.
Our state legislators must have the courage to change our system of redistricting. Are they too afraid of a fair contest of political views in a diverse district? Our political districts should be drawn by nonpartisan, independent commissioners. Unlike incumbent legislators, commissioners would have no vested interest in drawing districts to benefit themselves. There are various ways in which such independent commissioners could be selected.
Several states have already adopted nonpartisan, or at least bipartisan, redistricting commissions. Why not Georgia?
FRANKLIN MOORE, ALPHARETTA
Political polarization has been one-sided
It is common for pundits to attribute political polarization to both parties having become more extreme. But it is really the Republican Party that has taken a hard turn during the past decade.
The priorities of the Biden administration were essentially those of Presidents Lyndon Johnson, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. But can anyone imagine Ronald Reagan recognizing Donald Trump as a kindred spirit? Or the first president Bush doing so?
Even the habitually reticent George W. Bush has been openly critical of Trump’s bullying and his party’s rising nativism and isolationism. And of course, there’s the late Vice President Dick Cheney’s strong repudiation of Trumpism.
A once conservative but now Trumpist Republican Party has, since 2016, brought us a dictatorial and erratic executive, unchecked by a submissive Senate, an absentee House of Representatives, or a (thus far) supine Supreme Court. Our country urgently needs a midcourse correction.
JOHN SITTER, ATLANTA
