Letters to the Editor | March 12, 2024

First-time presidential election voter Harper Leary is worried about what she will say to innocent Gazans if she casts her ballot for Joe Biden? I would like to ask her what she will say to the millions of innocent, destroyed, and subjugated Ukrainians if Donald Trump wins the election. Will she also address the millions seeking freedom from violence throughout Central and South America? Young people need to learn how to expand the questions they ask. They certainly need to broaden their points of view, grow their knowledge of history, and develop crisper analytical arguments.

Barbara S. Blonsky, Mount Laurel

I am very disturbed by the kidnapping and killing of Israeli civilians and the slaughter of Palestinian civilians. If I could personally enforce a cease-fire in Gaza, I would, but I would never cast a vote based on one issue. That questionable practice is what delivered chaos to the White House and an insurrection to the U.S. Capitol. You never get the opportunity to vote for perfection. The most basic valid metrics for selecting a president are his or her competence and ethics. Using these metrics would make Harper Leary’s selection of the next president an easy choice.

Jo-Ann Maguire, Norristown

U.S. Sen. Katie Britt did two things of note with her rebuttal to the State of the Union address. First, she rescued Bobby Jindal and Marco Rubio from being remembered for the worst rebuttals ever. Second, she used the highly altered story of a migrant rape victim to support the hopes that a rapist will secure the White House. Then, in perfect MAGA fashion, she defended her fakery on Fox News as 100% true. I guess what she did to the facts is what we have come to expect from the GOP. She claimed this decades-old story, which took place in Mexico, was told to show that Joe Biden’s policies are adding to the horrendous situation at the border. She conveniently left out that she and the rest of the GOP torpedoed a border bill that was designed by a conservative senator from Oklahoma to help Donald Trump.

Jim Lynch, Norristown

Since the 2016 primaries, I rate the political debates as poor. I think they are a joke. In my view, those debates consist of screaming matches, personal insults, and constant interruption of other candidates — not much on policies. I feel a town hall presentation should be the way to go to find out the policies the candidate favors and an approximate way to achieve those policies. Have the presidential candidates have separate nationally televised town halls. Have state and local candidates be televised locally.

JoAnn Carey, Warminster

When it comes to how to persuade people, there are two fundamental approaches in politics, as in life. For example, President Joe Biden can take a positive tack and promote his many substantive accomplishments. Or, he can take a negative tack and highlight the threats to our society and to our democracy posed by Donald Trump. Experience validates that while people say they do not like the negative orientation, negativity works. It captures people’s attention and is better recalled later. This is especially true when the negative messages feel like they ring true. Michelle Obama may say that “when they go low, we go high,” but while that is usually great advice, if Trump is your target, you must go low. After all, he is a bountiful reservoir of negative attributes just waiting to be exploited.

Ken Derow, Swarthmore

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