Letters to the Editor | March 23, 2023

Democracies like Israel have convicted and imprisoned former ministers and prime ministers for corruption and other criminal acts (hopefully, soon again). Yet, when the New York district attorney investigates a former president, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy says the DA should focus on murderers, and the Republicans want to investigate the investigator. The claim that everyone is subject to the same law has been cast aside for short-term political gain. Clearly, the law and order McCarthy wants is one only for people of color and those without fortunes. Meanwhile, people like the Sackler family with their opioids get to walk free and keep their fortune. I guess we have to wait for Donald Trump to shoot someone on Fifth Avenue. What will McCarthy say then?

Mitchell Rothman, Merion

Signe Wilkinson’s recent op-ed on the past success of focused deterrence policing in Philadelphia should be required reading for any Philadelphian planning to vote in this year’s municipal elections, much as the moving TEDx presentation “Be the Change” should be required viewing. Whether called focused deterrence policing or Group Violence Intervention, it’s time for voters to require any viable candidate for public office, especially for mayor and City Council, to take a publicly stated position on focused deterrence. Enough of tolerating what Wilkinson describes as “unfocused dithering” by our elected officials, who seem to have abandoned this evidence-based, successful approach to addressing gun violence.

Dan Drecksage, Philadelphia

The blocking of the Vine Street Expressway during the height of the pandemic in 2020 had no heroes, despite the financial settlement awarded to protesters. There is no doubt that the police were totally out of line in addressing this situation. They were brutal. There is also no doubt that the perpetrators instigated the situation, and at least one woman refused to leave the roadway in an effort to further exacerbate the situation. The label of villains must be applied to both sides of the conflict. Both should have been held accountable. As a further indictment of The Inquirer’s slanted reporting, the peaceful George Floyd protesters at the Art Museum that day were given scant notice. Now Floyd is just a footnote while violence is lauded.

Jo-Ann Maguire, Norristown

Why don’t we perform background checks on all political candidates prior to an election? They would include residency requirements, allegations of sexual improprieties, conflicts of interest on their sources of funding, history of lies regarding who they are, educational histories, and on and on. Can you imagine how many candidates would be eliminated prior to the election, rather than after the fact? We pay their salaries, health care for their families, as well as reimbursements for meals and travel. Maybe, just maybe, we would elect representatives who are focused on their constituents and not themselves.

Carol L. Smith, Philadelphia

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