Nov. 3 was not a ‘pocketbook’ election
To the editor:
As I celebrate Tuesday’s election results, I am dismayed that so many commentators attribute Democratic victories primarily to the price of gas. That explanation assumes that the only thing Americans care about is their pocketbooks. It ignores the far deeper reasons so many people have rejected Donald Trump and the Republican Party he has created.
There isn’t an editorial page large enough to contain them all, but here are some that come immediately to mind.
Start with the gleeful cruelty with which this administration has treated war and the bombing of human beings — not as matters of life and death, but as occasions for emojis and celebration. Consider the deliberate fomenting of hatred toward immigrants, the very people whose ancestors helped build this country — including, in most cases, our own.
Consider the constant lies and brazen corruption, carried out in plain sight: no-bid contracts that produce failed projects, while those responsible face little accountability. Consider a government that claims there is no money to feed hungry children while passing tax legislation that enriches billionaires and further harms the poor and most vulnerable. Meanwhile, everything Trump touches is adorned in gold, as though the country itself were being transformed into a monument to his vanity.
Consider the gleeful stripping of health insurance from thousands of Americans, including children, and the dismantling of USAID, on which millions of people around the world depended for their lives and livelihoods.
Consider the relentless self-aggrandizement. The handing over of Americans’ private information to Elon Musk and his associates — a profound violation of public trust that should itself demand serious legal accountability.
Consider the decimation of federal programs and the weakening of our military, including the dismissal of highly qualified, decorated women and Black leaders from military positions in what appears to be an effort by Pete Hegseth to remake the military into a boys’ club populated by people who look like him.
Consider the embrace of murderous tyrants like Putin and the destruction of alliances painstakingly forged over decades, through the sacrifice and bloodshed of World War II.
Consider putting a man who has undermined public health in charge of the nation’s health, with the result that diseases once thought nearly eradicated are again threatening Americans.
Consider tariffs that make it increasingly difficult for businesses, farmers, and ordinary families to survive.
And now consider launching a war with Iran on the false pretense that it was on the verge of obtaining a nuclear weapon, without any credible plan for ending the conflict. Experts warned about the consequences for the Strait of Hormuz and the inevitable impact on global energy prices. Those warnings were ignored, and ordinary people are left to bear the consequences.
And finally, consider a president who proudly takes credit for overturning Roe v. Wade, a decision that has put the health, safety, and lives of American women at risk.
So no, this is not just about the price of gas. It is about cruelty, corruption, incompetence, contempt for democracy, disregard for human life, and the systematic dismantling of institutions and values that have sustained this country.
Americans are capable of caring about their economic security and their country’s moral character at the same time. Tuesday’s results should remind us not to underestimate that.
Charlotte Taft
Cape Coral