Letters to the Editor | Sept. 7, 2022

Democracies depend on elections, and elections only work if we all agree to accept the outcome. Americans on both sides have had to swallow hard at recent election results, but democracy demands that we do so. If we reject those results, or worse, if we resort to violence to ensure that our side prevails, democracy becomes impossible. Because millions of MAGA Republicans have shown that they reject these bedrock democratic principles, our democracy is under threat. And unification with those Americans remains out of reach. If our democracy is to survive, it will depend on Americans who are willing to defend it.

Beyond accepting these principles, what does such a defense look like? It means voting, of course. President Joe Biden ended his recent speech at Independence Hall with that. But that is only the start. Defending democracy means choosing to conduct ourselves like democrats.

In my latest book, here is how I put it: “Being an excellent democrat means standing up for oneself as a person with a point of view who is worthy of being heard. It means allowing others, even encouraging them, to do the same. It means striving to assess the world as best as we can, even as we recognize that we cannot escape the constrained and compromised condition of our own perspective. It means spurning those who appeal to our worst, most undemocratic impulses. It means fighting for what we believe in, but fighting well and fairly. It means respecting others enough to let them do the same. It means winning and losing with class.”

None of this is easy, of course. And the prospects are daunting. But if enough Americans make this commitment, and live up to the responsibilities of democratic citizenship, we might yet step back from the brink. And as President Biden insists, our best days may yet be in front of us. — Christopher Beem, managing director, McCourtney Institute for Democracy at Penn State University

It’s dismaying that members of Philadelphia City Council have, five months later, taken issue with the plan to commission a statue of Harriet Tubman. One of our city’s greatest treasures is our public art. Yet of thousands of outstanding works, only few are of a woman. In 2019, The Inquirer wrote about addressing our “monument gender gap.” Three years have gone by and the gap is still as deep. The sculptor, Wesley Wofford, captured the heroism and determination of Tubman in his work, which was temporarily installed on City Hall’s apron earlier this year. He is available to create one for our permanent display and anticipates the work could be completed and installed during 2023. I say hooray, let’s get it done, let’s not delay. The city’s Office of Arts, Culture and the Creative Economy process for prioritizing Philadelphia-based artists is a good one. However, there are times, like now, when the benefits of jumping the process are warranted. Perhaps the Council members taking issue can instead champion additional monuments to women, like Sadie Alexander, Hannah Penn, and Gloria Casarez. — Karen Lleswing Sutton, Philadelphia

In response to Juliana Feliciano Reyes’ article “Broken Rung” that was published this Labor Day weekend: It’s unfair to paint the trades as racist and exclusionary. Besides the nod to the carpenters’ pre-apprenticeship, there was a lot said about the past and very little about the current efforts being made by all Philadelphia unions to diversify. These head-start programs are great for urban Black and brown people to break into a union, but what happens once the school year begins? What about the people of color who simply apply with no outside support, why aren’t they getting in?

The reason is the standardized math and reading test that applicants must pass to get in. The same populations that are “locked out of [urban unions]” like Philly and Boston are the same students underserved by the public school system. The teachers’ hands are tied, the buildings are crumbling, and there are never enough resources to go around. Fix the education system and there will be significantly more representation of people of color in the building trades. — Kirby Coughlin-Toomey, former PFT 3 and current IBEW 98

It was alarming to learn that senior citizens have scant protections against excessive rent hikes. Landlords can double rents if they please, which can leave senior citizens on fixed incomes homeless. Housing experts and activists have told me that landlords are allowed to increase rents to unlimited amounts. City and state leaders must address this disgrace by enacting laws that forbid landlords from hiking rents so high that they threaten to toss the elderly into the street. It is shameful that elected officials have allowed this condition to persist. Senior citizens can work all their lives and pay into the Social Security system. They should at least be allowed to live in peace in a safe space without having a landlord harass them with rents they cannot afford. These landlords do not care how vulnerable elderly tenants can be. We already develop more medical problems as we age, and these rent-hike demands probably cause excessive stress that aggravates our current medical problems. Certainly, there are many other housing issues that our elected officials must address, and dealing with the concerns of senior citizens would be a good start. — Bruce S. Ticker, Philadelphia

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