Letters to the Editor

11.16.16

News, November 9: “This Guy”

A Manifesto

I vow to stick through and fight the good fight. Not be sickly, blindly optimistic but doggedly, intelligently revolutionary. I will not be the first contestant voted off the bad reality TV show we now live in.

I will not sacrifice my freedom and dignity to comply with an evil leader. So let's watch out, speak out, act out for each other as attempts to curtail freedoms of dissenters, outliers and "others" sneak or jump into our lives.

My heart has been seriously broken too many times, I have picked up the pieces and glued it together like the Valentine your kindergartner made for you. My spirit has been slaughtered and I have recreated it as a delicious, hearty, sustaining stew.

I have behaved badly and made mistakes each time I have been tested. But I have and will persevere, especially because I feel your love, strength and compassion with me.

I am here for you. Be here for me.

Clare Bonnie Byrne Thornton
via Facebook

Quit the Addictions

My inboxes are inundated with "Stop Trump" messages. Good idea, if it's not too late. But, apparently a lot of folks didn't stop to think before they voted in this guy.

So, let's own it. How about if we STOP the American addiction to consuming more stuff, and the obscene addiction to petroleum. We might also STOP wiping out our planet with garbage and weapon waste. And—oh yeah, if we're stopping—how about STOP the global "drill baby drill" gigs and the dark affairs called war.

What if we START over with kindness!

Susan Waterman
Santa Fe

Arrogance of the Press

Your publication has mocked and vilified Donald Trump for a long time now. The Republicans did the same to your favorite presidential candidate as well. It was to be expected in a national campaign. I doubt that the attitude of the liberal press will change from vindictive in the next four years.

Please consider the possibility of taking the courageous stand of demonstrating fairness and objectivity by moving toward political cooperation and reconciliation in the years ahead. To pretend that half of the voting population is wrong and you represent what is right is embarrassingly arrogant.

Let's embrace the coming changes and heal the abyss.

Thanks for considering this possibility.

Robert Dryden
Santa Fe County

Silver Linings?

Now that the unthinkable has happened, I am seeking a few things to be hopeful about in a Trump presidency.

First, I remember that before he became a Republican and Christian and conservative recently, he was just a playboy Democrat businessman. Hopefully he prefers that he, his family and his buildings survive, above-sea-level, in a world of clean air, water and livable climate. I hope he will walk back much of his pro-gun, anti-abortion, jail-Hillary, anti-immigrant, conservative-court bluster. Mainly, I hope he will take responsibility for the white supremacist sentiment he has encouraged, and publicly work to reverse it.

Second, when this self-proclaimed genius is confronted with other powerful egos in the GOP I hope he will say, "To Hell with you all." As Barry Goldwater said in 1994, "Politics and governing demand compromise. But these Christians believe they are acting in the name of God, so they can't and won't compromise. I know, I've tried to deal with them."

Finally, being in the driver's seat has got to be a sobering experience. His extra-long meeting with President Obama tells me he's probably serious and humbled (if a guy like that could ever be humbled) by the task before him.

Jim Terr
Las Vegas, NM

News, November 9: “Nearest Ms.”

Berkenstinkers

You could not be more wrong about why Trump won. Your excuses are but more of the same problem. Tired of PC nonsense spun as reasoning from wrinkly feminists stuck in the '90s, from greedy race hustlers stuck in the '60s, and the perpetually butthurt college set stuck in ethically filthied diapers, the American electorate finally rejected your ideology for actual CHANGE. So stick that in your Berkenstinkers and smoke it. Sick of being called racist bigot and homophobe, misogynist, xenophobe and looked down on by people who think they are better than us, blue-collar, common-sense America rejected Hillary and the left including the media in a spanking that resonates around the globe. You woke up to a whole new world on Wednesday, November 9. In this uncharted territory, where a map of the electorate by county painted the nation red for Trump, tired, worn out, irrelevant leftists are all done here. You jumped the shark over and over in arrogant entitlement to self-righteousness for too long, in this nation of tolerant, open hearted, generous and considerate family-oriented people. We won. Leftists lost because of who they are: morally bankrupt, and we have had enough.

Bettyann Craddock
Santa Fe

Burnin’ Democracy

I understand that the piece was written before the demographic information came in, but now that it has, can you print a retraction? Clinton won roughly the same percentage of women voters as Obama did in 2012. Women clearly didn't like Clinton enough to vote for her just because she was a woman. Does that mean that women are sexist against their own gender? Sure, more men voted for Trump, but the percentage difference was about on the level of the 2004 elections—two white men against each other. Sexism played a part in this election, there's no doubt, but it's not the reason Clinton lost. Instead of blaming people (and identity politics), maybe now we can concede that she was a terrible candidate and (hopefully) build a better democracy—after this one burns to the ground under Trump, of course.

Jedidiah Chamberlain
Santa Fe

Nope, You’re Wrong

I would like to comment on your coverage of the election results. The notion that Americans rejected Clinton because she is a woman is frankly childish, considering the fact that half of all white women rejected this woman as well. People rejected the establishment candidate because they want change, just like they did with Obama and were for the most part cheated out of it. It takes a special kind of dishonesty to pretend that Clinton's loss had anything to do with her being a woman. People rejected the rampant corruption and dishonesty of career politicians and that is something that should be welcomed by the left that was cheated out of its own anti-establishment candidate.

Alexander Janzer
Santa Fe

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