Huge asterisk on Iowa results
Re: “Trump takes Iowa GOP caucus — Haley and DeSantis scramble for second in nation’s first test,” Tuesday news story.
While I understand the coverage of the Iowa caucuses, I am upset by the paper’s failure to put the results in perspective. Only 14% of eligible voters voted, which should put a huge asterisk on the result.
To construe this as an indication that Donald Trump has the support of the people eligible to vote is foolish. In reality, Iowa shows he has the support of maybe 8% of the eligible voters.
We can only hope that more eligible voters take the time and effort to look into the candidates and then vote. We have to find and support someone who cares about this country and the people and not select voter groups.
The United States has some 330 million people. Clearly we can find someone other than Donald Trump or Joe Biden, yet the two major political parties tell us that their candidates are all we have to choose from.
We can only hope that the other states that have an opportunity to vote on candidates will not be blinded by ads and disinformation, and look for a change as we cannot continue as we have been.
Robert Warner, Frisco
A step toward authoritarianism
Through the past several years, I have noticed that public opinion surveys often include a question about “the direction of America.” The majority response consistently has been, “America is headed in the wrong direction.” None of these surveys ever included exactly where that “wrong direction” was actually taking us.
The Iowa caucus clarifies understanding of “America’s wrong direction”: This caucus result is one small step — but a very definite step — toward authoritarian leadership and mismanagement of our constitutional democracy.
An historical forewarning: After our U.S. founding leaders had completed the fraught final acceptance of our Constitution, Ben Franklin was asked, “Well Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?”
Franklin’s reply, “A republic, if you can keep it.”
Michael L. Burgess, Richardson
Hope vital in our world
Re: “Is it an awful world or a wonderful one? With everything going on around the world, the little things make a big difference,” by Ted Moore, Tuesday Opinion.
What a beautiful piece from Moore! Thanks for reminding us of our joys. I believe hope is absolutely vital in our world today.
I, too, have a 3-year-old granddaughter who restores my faith and loves me unconditionally, just like God does. My beloved husband was a Presbyterian minister, and he used to say there are two sins — pride and despair. Pride causes us to think we can do it without God, and despair makes us think God can’t.
Thanks be to God that he is still in control even as we totally mess up our world. May we all remember to reflect a little of Christ’s love today. Someone may be desperate for it.
Carol McNatt, Athens
Speed of EV chargers important
Re: “Federal grant to pay for charging stations — $15M given to install up to 100 public ports in N. Texas,” Tuesday Metro & Business story.
As supporters of clean energy and owners of a Tesla, we were very glad to read of the $15 million federal grant announced by Rep. Colin Allred of Dallas for more electric vehicle charging stations in North Texas. What most people may not realize, though, is that the speed of the chargers available, based on their kilowatt, is extremely important.
In our large senior community, there is one 7.2 kilowatt (very slow) charger. Based on 3 to 4 miles per kilowatt hour, we would have to leave our car overnight to accumulate many miles. Other chargers within 15 minutes are: 50 kilowatt (slow), 100 kilowatt (fast) and 350 kilowatt (very fast)
Dale S. Howard, North Dallas
Term limits lead to sanity
Re: “With age comes wisdom,” by Steven Harold Rubin, Tuesday Letters.
Listing Mitch McConnell as an example of lucid and coherent leaders is laughable. No one discusses the elephant in the room when it comes to President Joe Biden — there are too many recorded videos of him slurring, misstating and being confused and befuddled.
Are we too full of ourselves (our party) to admit to his deterioration? That is scary. Term limits are a start to sanity. I would hope there are thousands of clever and wise people to fill these shoes. It borders on dangerous to do otherwise.
Marc Morisseau, Heath
Averages against elder candidates
Mr. Rubin believes we are discounting the ability of older people to work in high stress positions (such as the presidency). I think he’s missing an important fact. The law of averages is stacked against the presidential candidates from both parties. The life expectancy of a male in the U.S. in 2023 is 74. That’s three years younger than Donald Trump and seven years younger than President Joe Biden.
I’ll grant you that Biden at least exercises and eats right. However, you can only beat the Grim Reaper for so long. Every one of us has an expiration date. That date is fast approaching for both presidential candidates. If you vote for Biden or Trump, you may actually be voting for their vice president.
Personally, I think it would be better if both candidates stepped down. I would prefer to be able to choose my president rather than giving that choice to his or her predecessor.
Judy Pelowski, Red Oak
Flies can work in Austin
Re: “Send flies to D.C.,” by Raymond J. Termini, Saturday Letters.
Why send flies to Washington when we have a tremendous amount of manure under that large dome in Austin?
Nesha Morey, Arlington
We welcome your thoughts in a letter to the editor. See the guidelines and submit your letter here. If you have problems with the form, you can submit via email at letters@dallasnews.com
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