Letters to the Editor | Nov. 15, 2022

The Inquirer’s coverage of the recent election seems unduly celebratory. The Republican Party is a populist insurgency that challenges the political establishment on various levels. Not surprisingly, the establishment has fought back, using some legitimate tactics, such as increased voter registration, and some dubious ones, including online censorship. These tactics have a short-term effect, but their long-term success is questionable. In other countries with similar insurgencies (Sweden, Italy, etc.), it has been assumed that the populists were defeated, only to see them come back stronger. We are a long way from knowing how this turns out.

Michael A. Livingston, Philadelphia, maliving@rutgers.edu

The victory of our first Black lieutenant governor and a Jewish governor-elect over an opponent who refused to denounce his antisemitic and racist supporters does not mean that the rising antisemitism we see across the commonwealth and the country can be ignored. Barely four years removed from the shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue, which claimed the lives of 11 of our Jewish brothers and sisters, a political candidate who recruited supporters on the same far-right social media platform used by the shooter received more than two million votes. This does not mean everyone who voted for him has hate in their hearts, but failing to condemn antisemitism is unacceptable. An attack on one faith is an attack on all faiths. We must stand together against antisemitism, against racism, against homophobia, against hate. We must resist those who espouse hate or are supported by people and groups with hate in their hearts. We must stand against those who seek to attack people different from themselves. Because all true members of the American nation know that our differences are what unites us.

Mike Driscoll, City Council member, 6th District

Philadelphia’s difficulties with electric buses would have been much less had a 70-year-old plan been carried out. In 1952, the Philadelphia Transportation Co. (SEPTA’s predecessor) conceived a 10-year “rehabilitation program” that would have given the city’s transit riders an electrically powered system of 15 streetcar and 23 trackless trolley lines with modern vehicles. It would have been a “light green” result, as coal was the prime mover for electricity generation, but it would have been a great foundation for a greener system under which a fleet of electric buses could cruise the streets with “In-Motion Charging” with much lighter batteries. Sadly, a 10-year program was much too long, and diesel buses won out. Now we must live with a dismal loss of credibility about an electrified mass transit system that we so sorely need.

Robert P. Sechler, Media, rpssjs@yahoo.com

The most important question arising from Pennsylvania’s election results is: Where is Mehmet Oz going to live?

Steven K. Vernon, Havertown

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