Letters to the Editor | Nov. 14, 2022

As the holidays approach, I have been thinking of Macy’s Christmas festivities. Running around the store, watching the light show, and dropping off my letter to Santa — containing my strongest childhood wishes — into that red mailbox. Now older, I wonder about non-English-speaking families. Having multilingual-labeled mailboxes would promote inclusivity and reflect the diverse groups of people who make up the city I grew up in. From the Spanish speakers on the north side to the many Asian language speakers in South Philadelphia, creating multilingual mailboxes feels right. I know there are many more languages spoken in this city than can fit (no matter how big that mailbox may seem to a child), but over time Macy’s can rearrange its light show to include more room for more mailboxes. If you agree, let’s start a campaign on social media, write emails, and get Macy’s attention. I’m sure it won’t happen overnight — only Santa has that power — but let’s work to experience Christmas in every language. It’s the Philly way.

Alexander O’Connor, Philadelphia, alexoco@sas.upenn.edu

I read in the paper that the Republican Party has been “hijacked” by Donald Trump. I couldn’t disagree more. When something is hijacked, that means it’s against its will, but the GOP has embraced all things Trump. His political aspirations should have ended when he rode down that escalator and said that Mexico was sending us rapists and murderers. Instead, Republicans allowed him to continue with his hate-fueled speeches, mocking disabled people, deriding a Gold Star family, and insulting women who had legitimate sexual assault claims against him. After he was elected, his lying, cheating, and incompetence were overlooked for the sake of the party. Republican leaders had many opportunities to get rid of Trump. He was impeached — twice — and they said and did nothing. Even after the FBI raided Mar-a-Lago and found sensitive classified documents, they said nothing. I doubt they would have been that forgiving had Barack Obama taken a sticky note when he left. So please, don’t say the party has been “hijacked” by Trump, that’s simply not true. He was handed the keys and ushered in.

C. Fogarty, Schwenksville

It is almost comical that U.S. Sen. Pat Toomey and his fellow Republicans are placing the disappointing outcome of the recent election at the feet of Donald Trump. In yet another form of denial, they choose to not understand that if Toomey and his colleagues had supported the likes of U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, who put her career on the line to speak truth to power, they would be in a much different position today. Putting their losses in Pennsylvania and across the country on Trump is a continuation of the failure of the Republican Party to face reality. Every elected Republican official who supported Trump in spreading lies, who failed to stand up for sanity — especially by their silence — has equal responsibility for the outcomes of this election. One can only hope that our elected Republican officials will finally say what the sane Republicans in Pennsylvania and across our country know to be true: that the election of 2020 was not stolen, that Donald Trump is poison to our country and to democracy, that what is happening in the Republican Party is dangerous to our future, and that our elected Republican officials speak and act out of fear rather than standing up for the truth. No one who holds elective office should be afraid to speak truth to power or be afraid to have truth spoken to him or her. Competent and healthy officials, with the good of the people foremost in their minds, will do just that.

Linda Banecker, Plymouth Meeting

The Inquirer story on abuse and cover-ups at Norristown State Hospital is shocking. Nepotism is allegedly rampant and that makes cover-ups so much easier because relatives shield each other. According to some current and former employees, there is a conspiracy of silence, and many who see what is going on are too scared to speak up. Sadly, these alleged abuses are being supported by the taxpayers of Pennsylvania. How long will this fraud be allowed to continue unchecked?

Alex Zachariah, Willow Grove

Tuesday’s election results raised some interesting possibilities. First, might the Democrats be better off if Donald Trump is the 2024 Republican presidential nominee? Trump’s flaws and unpopularity among many voters might make him easier to defeat than Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is not as well-known nationally. Dems might even try to help Trump in the Republican primary as some Democratic groups did with ads designed to boost Doug Mastriano’s candidacy, because he was correctly viewed as being an easier opponent in the general election. Second, the Democrats’ quandary is who to nominate. Although President Joe Biden is a decent man, his age and the unpopularity of some of his programs render him vulnerable. But no one else has percolated nationally to the top of the Democrats’ list of potential nominees, so if he decides to run again the nomination will be his. Third, although an Inquirer article accurately stated that Shapiro had “trounced” Mastriano on Tuesday, the alarming fact remains that Mastriano got 42% of Pennsylvania’s votes. More than two million of our fellow citizens supported a right-wing religious fanatic, conspiracy-touting, antisemitic candidate. So where does that leave all of us? Your guess is as good as mine.

Ben Zuckerman, Philadelphia

As I entered my polling place last Tuesday, I had to face a gauntlet of people trying to hand me sample ballots, more election yard signs than in many yards in the area, and a subtle coercion to vote Republican before I could enter my polling place. Once inside, someone asked me if that was legal. Unfortunately, it is. Although Pennsylvania law states that “All persons (other than officers, voters, etc.) must remain at least 10 feet from the polling place during the progress of the voting.” Yet in almost every polling place, there is a cadre of people (mostly Republicans) greeting every voter offering sample ballots, Republican literature, and hidden agendas designed to coerce the people entering a polling place to vote Republican — and all outside of the 10-foot boundary. I have yet to see a Democratic Party presence (to the extent that the Republicans are) at any of the polling places at which I have entered to vote. This blatant disregard for the intent of the law (to prevent coercion) is part and parcel of the party to which I belong and am ashamed to say an active member. It is time to stop this practice, and Pennsylvania needs to be the state to start the elimination of all electioneering at every polling place. I call on the state Senate and the state House to amend the laws to ban all electioneering within a half-mile radius of every polling place on Election Day. Let the voters enter a polling place without the need to run the gauntlet of electioneers who are trying to coerce us into voting their way.

Thomas M. Denson, Pottstown

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