Editor,
On Nov. 4, California’s Democratic and independent voters face a situation which can only be described as a choice between the lesser of two evils. The lesser evil is of course the passage of Proposition 50, the redistricting measure that will result in the likely addition of five more Democratic seats to the House of Representatives.
In normal times, such a measure would be highly unpalatable to voters of conscience. Californians are justifiably proud of the fact that redistricting has been done every 10 years by a nonpartisan commission independent of the legislature. However, these are far from normal times.
The greater evil would be to allow Trump to have two more years to perpetuate his illegal, unconstitutional, immoral and, frankly, racist policies without the checks and balances that should be provided by Congress. The Republican-led House and Senate have completely capitulated to Trump’s authoritarian rule, and offer no opposition to even his most egregious violations of the Constitution. If the Republicans continue to control Congress after the 2026 elections, then it will be more of the same, or even worse. A Republican win will only embolden Trump to pursue even more authoritarian policies.
There is no guarantee that adding five Democratic congressional seats in 2026 will turn the tide, but at least it will provide a voter-approved countermeasure to the Republican gerrymandering in Texas, Missouri and other states. So, on Nov. 4, we should choose the lesser evil and check “Yes” on our ballots to pass Proposition 50.
Bob Steele
Redwood City
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(8) comments
Mick - the pro-Trump partisans in this newspaper spend significant amounts of time rewriting these almost identical harangues day after day after day after day. Don’t even give them the time of day. It never fails to amuse me that they seem to think their logic is “ironclad” when the counterpoints are blatantly obvious to anyone who is not blinded by ideology.
Mick – note that DavidK and others on the far left have been reduced to personal attacks instead of conversations based on a foundation of facts. We should note that TDS-infected partisans spend significant amounts of time rewriting their almost identical harangues day after day after day and so those of us on the right side of history copy/paste our rebuttals to their easily debunked “ironclad” assertions (which are nothing of the sort). Sad. But on the bright side, their irrelevant comments do nothing to stop our (yes, our) great President Trump from continuing to Make America Great Again, Again. BTW, Mr. Kristofferson (if that's who you really are), if you’re reading this and I’m 100% sure you are, perhaps you could give us thoughts on Bill Gates and his three tough truths about climate (https://www.gatesnotes.com/home/home-page-topic/reader/three-tough-truths-about-climate). Should we look outside for flying pigs? Perhaps Mr. Gates is tired of not answering why he and folks he gives a pass to burn carbon to their hearts desire while telling others to reduce their carbon. Sound familiar?
Terrence Y, if that is who you are, I will actually take a few minutes today to reply on a few points.
In my opinion, the only part of the SMDJ worth writing for is the hardcopy paper unless Jon Mays were to post convincing statistics on the readership numbers of the LTE comments section which I have never seen him do. Sadly, the length limitations on LTEs in the physical newspaper are so short that one can not flesh out much of an argument. That leaves only the columnists with enough space to write something worthwhile, and those slots are all filled. Only the online comments do not seem to limit reply length, but why waste time on them if the readership is primarily a small group of fanatics?
When looking at the LTE participants, one sees a very small number of repeat offenders contributing most of the verbiage. I suspect this is because the Trump team is sufficiently annoying that they drive away participation which in my opinion is a loss to the SMDJ.
I have about 15-30 minutes (usually on the shorter end of that range) to devote to the SMDJ each day. You, by contrast, spend an amazing amount of time writing every day, often showing up as a monopolist in the “Recent Comments” list.
I have no intention of making the time investment required to write daily for an online forum which I suspect is read primarily by a small number of “lib-baiting” Trump supporters.
You can taunt me till the cows come home, but also don’t forget - Ray Fowler, myself, and others invited you several times to attend a face-to-face meeting to discuss issues and you declined repeatedly.
You can continue to proclaim yourself the debate victor as long as you wish and write your numerous true-believer missives here. In my mind, that is the real definition of “Trump Derangement Syndrome.”
P.S. - thank for the Gates Notes reference. I hope you studied it carefully. The answers to your questions are out there if you look for them. I am *not* going to take the time to rewrite them here for you as earlier attempts to do so proved to be a complete waste of time.
I’d like to say thanks for your response, DavidKristoferrson, but your points are not salient. We only read your soliloquy of complaints and perceived slights. There are limitations on LTEs and we learn to deal with it – submit multiple LTEs or revise for brevity. If you don’t believe there’s a variety of LTE participants, recruit more participants. Same with online commenting.
Attributing a small number of repeat LTE contributors as team Trump is laughable. If you feel folks are annoyed and being driven away, it may be due to LTE contributors repeating Democrat talking points. Or perhaps they’re worried they’d be embarrassed when someone corrects them with facts. Or perhaps they’re unable to answer simple questions and only submit irrelevant responses, or a soliloquy of complaints.
You say, “I have no intention of making the time investment…” And it shows. Perhaps that explains why you’ve resorted to personal attacks instead of relevant content. Maybe take the time.
I appreciate your feeble attempt to taunt me about meeting face-to-face but why aren’t you able to discuss issues on-line? What argument could you make in person you couldn’t do online? Personally, I prefer an online record of positions so I can hold people to what they’ve said. BTW, what makes you think I haven’t met others face-to-face?
You seem to think “this” is a contest but the only victor should be the truth. If you’re on the wrong side of it, I can’t help if you consider it a loss. Instead, you should think of it as a learning experience and adjust your thoughts and attitudes to reflect issues and stances based on truth, not your feelings. Thank you for your attention to this matter.
P.S. - instead of an almost 400 word diatribe, perhaps you could do all of us a favor and explain why you and fellow Democrats continue to support Democrats who prioritize criminals and terrorists over American citizens, why you and fellow Democrats support Democrats who celebrate a political assassination, or why you and fellow Democrats support biological males competing against biological females. I’d like to say I have confidence you have the courage to step up but I feel there may be more of a chance you’ll disappoint me and our dear readers. Again.
Yes Dirk, no one would have chosen this situation. But since 2016, our political reality is “They go low, we go high, they win.”
Mick - are you quoting Michelle Obama? Duplicity is her middle name. Digging in our respective heels is not solving anything.
Here we go again, Mr. Steele attempting to irrationally rationalize Newsom’s threat to democracy known as Proposition 50. It’s amusing the amount of mental gymnastics folks will go through to explain their lapses in morality or ethics or fairness or anything going against common sense. To wit, how else to explain why Democrats support criminals and terrorists over the American people. How else to explain why Democrats support biological men competing against biological women in individual and team sports. How else to explain why Democrats didn’t support the Big Beautiful Bill and now the Big Beautiful Ballroom (Donald J. Trump Ballroom?). Is it any wonder why mental illness has become such a hot topic in the last decade? Is there a cure for Trump Derangement Syndrome? Perhaps it’ll just morph into Vance Derangement Syndrome or Rubio Derangement Syndrome. Or will we have Trump 2028? Vote NO on Proposition 50.
Bob - it appears that you are a short term-impulsive thinker. The tide can turn against you in the future should we make redistricting a political football as is now the case. What is happening again is certainly not what our Founding Fathers had in mind. I blame both parties for this mess up and how we have allowed our duplicitous leadership take action that is clearly inconsistent with the intent of our Constitution. God save America!
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