Gerrymandering takes governing power away from the people
The Declaration of Independence states, “Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”
Gerrymandering undercuts this foundational principle. Come January, the makeup of Georgia’s legislature will not have been determined by the governed but by the legislature itself when it drew district borders.
Therefore, our legislature will have no just powers and, by its own actions, will have rendered itself wholly illegitimate.
Gerrymandering must end!
DUANE M. FORD, COVINGTON
New political party needed to combat extremism on both sides
The drumbeat of both the far right and far left will ultimately lead to the birth of a new commonsense political party.
The birth of the Tea Party in 2010 and the falling numbers of traditional Republicans led to a merged, hybrid party. This party was easily manipulated and led by Donald Trump. He acted as a Pied Piper of sorts. He fed his base with an unhealthy diet of lies and conspiracy theories.
On the far Left, a constant drumbeat of crackpot spending ideas and proposals for new social programs has left moderate Democrats to wonder where it will all stop.
It will all stop when moderate voters form a new party and leave all this foolishness behind.
Traditional political parties have failed us. Extremism on both sides is now the norm. I truly hope the trail back to sanity has not been destroyed by so-called voting security laws where those in power hold power by claiming corruption of our voting system.
BOB LOWTHER, DALLAS
Elections need more debates, less demonizing
I write this one day before the polls closed on Nov. 8. I have no crystal ball and no idea how things will eventually settle out.
But I do know this has been the worst election cycle in my lifetime, and I have voted in all but one since I came of voting age in 1970. It should not have been so.
I have been greatly disappointed by the tenor of most of the campaigning I have heard. Candidates (on both sides) have often gone to great lengths to demonize their opponents instead of debating the value of actual issues and policies. This does no one any good and solves no problems; it only causes more of them.
Anyone who “wins” an election based on lies and misrepresentation has already lost any ethical claim to represent the public.
A great sickness has swept our country. I pray it will soon die out. I fear it will not. We are all at risk until it does.
RAPHAEL SEMMES, SAVANNAH
Democracy alive in U.S., and ready for next election round
Donald Trump: His candidates did not take all, making his presence and endorsement worth less.
American voters are apparently able to be swayed in their voting by pure nonsense and unrealistic threats.
Obama, Abrams, Winfrey, the Clintons and the Bidens carry little clout anymore.
Christian churches and pastors: Their numbers are shrinking while they get involved in politics. Meanwhile, family values crumble, crime and drug use increase, and celebrity worship is common while pastors buy newspaper political advertisements.
Democrats: Their stranglehold on Hispanics is dissolving as they’re not so easily indoctrinated anymore.
Democracy, as presented in our Constitution, appears to be alive and well and ready for the next round of campaigning and voting, regardless of the lies and false narratives presented by our politicians.
RUSSELL ARMER, WOODSTOCK
