Letters to the Editor | Aug. 6, 2023

Judging from the response on the right to the movie Barbie, I guess it’s easier to rage against a plastic doll than to think deeply about our country and its many challenges. Thinking deeply would require Barbie haters to make some uncomfortable leaps of logic. For instance, the Republicans have been investigating Hunter Biden for more than five years. What have they found? Apparently, they have found that they need to continue investigating him. On the other hand, the man they idolize is on tape trying to persuade officials in Georgia to overturn his election loss and discussing the classified documents found in ballrooms, bathrooms, and bedrooms in Mar-a-Lago. Of course, Hillary Clinton had a private email server, so she should be in jail, right?

There used to be a time when elected officials would have been mortified if one of their colleagues regaled the chamber and her constituents with pictures of the private parts of the son of the president of the United States. No more! Or when elected officials espoused blatantly racist and/or antisemitic ideas. No more! John Stuart Mill warned leaders that the only thing necessary for evil to triumph is that good men (and women) look on and do nothing. Will wokeness be the death of us, as Republicans claim? Or will we choke to death on the fumes from a democracy running out of gas?

Suzanne Bush, Gwynedd Valley

I write as a Pennsylvanian and a Jew to express my deep dismay and regret at the imposition of the death penalty on Robert Bowers for the Tree of Life massacre. Like many others, I was appalled and horrified not only by the attack itself but by the rising tide of antisemitism it expressed. However, the taking of life by the state is never justified — no matter how heinous the crime. “Thou shalt not kill” is one of our earliest moral commandments, and it adds nothing to justice to violate it. We are all afflicted anew. The grief of none of us is truly lessened, and the shame of capital punishment is only the greater.

Robert Zaller, Bala Cynwyd, rzaller@msn.com

This year, Republicans have the novel opportunity to become traitors to our democracy. Donald Trump has stated his objectives of obstructing justice by subverting the U.S. Department of Justice. This would make him above the law, hence a vote for Trump is a treasonous vote against our democracy. Politico reports the following sentencing for Jan. 6, 2021, U.S. Capitol rioters: More than 1,033 people have been arrested, with approximately 485 federal defendants receiving sentences. About 277 defendants have been sentenced to time behind bars, and roughly 113 defendants have been sentenced to a period of home detention. Shouldn’t the instigator suffer similar consequences? Voters must realize that most other candidates are law-abiding and would comply with the presidential oath of office to defend the Constitution and the country. The fact that Trump has vowed to subvert justice should alert them to the danger he represents to our democracy.

Terry Hudson, Downingtown

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