Democrats shouldn’t play Donald Trump’s cheating game. Vote no on Prop. 50 | Opinion
Preserve integrity
“Why a Sacramento voice urges Californians to back Prop. 50,” (sacbee.com, Oct. 27)
This opinion piece argues that Democrats must discard our principles and try to win back the House by out-cheating President Donald Trump — a contest we are sure to lose. But will cheating help us appeal to an ever-increasing number of voters in Republican-leaning districts who are fed up with Trump?
I oppose Proposition 50 because it is wrong: It disenfranchises millions of California voters and will likely destroy the fairest redistricting system in the country. I refuse to allow Trump to compromise my integrity.
David H. Bell
Sacramento
Systemic subversion
“California Attorney General warns Trump will try to undermine Prop. 50 election,” (sacbee.com, Oct. 28)
The Trump administration announced that the Justice Department would monitor polling places in key local elections in California and New Jersey on November 4. The deployment, according to Attorney General Pam Bondi, is necessary to uphold “the highest standards of election integrity.”
If the federal government was truly interested in electoral integrity, Heather Honey would not have been appointed to serve as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Election Integrity in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Honey is a conservative political activist who promoted false information and conspiracy theories about the 2020 presidential election. As part of an organized network of election deniers, Honey made it her mission to overturn the 2020 election and obstruct the peaceful transfer of power to President-elect Joe Biden.
This pattern of systemic subversion is disqualifying and makes it impossible for legitimate oversight to be conducted in a credible manner.
Jim Paladino
Tampa, Fla.
Unnecessary lecture
“Could mosh pits curb America’s male loneliness crisis?” (sacbee.com, Oct. 22)
This opinion writer’s observation about men’s behavior in mosh pits was endearing — until she added, “How remarkable would it be if men held such strict, immediate expectations for their fellow men in real life when it came to the treatment of women?”
Instantly, the essay shifted from empathy to lecturing — an example of “fem-splaining,” when someone outside the male experience tells men how to fix themselves.
Men already have countless versions of healthy connection through sports, fraternal groups and other forms of bonding. America’s male mental-health crisis demands more than surface-level advice from those outside the lived male experience.
Gabriel S. Garcia
Folsom