Letters: State can lead the nation away from political trickery

Submit your letter to the editor via this form Read more Letters to the Editor State can lead nation from political trickery It is sad but arguably necessary that California is getting down in the muck of promoting gerrymandering for political gain Regardless of the outcome of the upcoming special balloting California does have the opportunity to take the high ground here According to Pew Research the bulk Democratic and Republican voters are against gerrymandering Related Articles Letters Reaction to latest shooting will be predictably ineffective Letters Newsom s talk of democracy reeks of hypocrisy Letters Let s promotion Newsom s counter move to Texas power grab Letters Disenfranchising voters should be a tough sell in state Letters GOP leaves California little choice on redistricting Chosen alternative approaches Senate Bill Redistricting Adjustment Act of addresses the issue through proposed law In the present dead but it could be revived Constitutional amendment by Congress but that s realistically a challenging path Constitutional amendment by state convention an amendment to be introduced by a two-thirds vote of state legislatures Mobilizing masses opinion and aid would be key to success However formidable this task may be California could provide leadership and advocacy Let s lead the national dialogue away from political shenanigans and toward ethical and moral democratic practices Charles Beach Walnut Creek California must block democracy s destruction What if during the midterm elections of one side cheats and one side doesn t What if the side that cheats wins and the side that doesn t lose Well at least the losers will have the benefit of knowing that they lost the right way while the side that cheated will comfort themselves with the knowledge that they now control the authorities and can write whatever laws they want certain that their friends on the Supreme Court will aid them as they destroy democracy and enrich themselves and their friends Nothing is more pivotal than blocking the destruction of American democracy Lose it once and it s gone forever Michael Steinberg Berkeley Prop is only track to fair midterms I am intrigued by the opposition to Gov Newsom s move to redraw districts in California I am wholeheartedly in favor of the nonpartisan commission under the bulk circumstances but these are unprecedented times I m so sick of that word If California voters are willing to obey in advance then we will indeed have a dictator given more and more power by a Congress that consists of a majority of flunkies The only possibility of a fair midterm voting for House representatives is if this ballot measure is passed and implemented The money behind those ads and pamphlets against this measure is totally provided by wealthy Republicans and the message is being spread by groups who can t admit the situation we are in right now Face it voters this is not the America we thought we lived in Extreme measures are needed to try to right the ship Marian Bruns Newark Redistricting is our only weapon in fight So if I have this straight according to selected writers Donald Trump can lob a nuclear bomb into the voting and we re supposed to just hide under our desks and pretend that nothing has changed nothing to see here The folks espousing this stance are either totally clueless as to Trump s sinister march toward dictatorship don t care or have signed on to the lunacy of Laura Loomer and other MAGA compatriots California didn t start this democracy-hating process Trump did We cannot afford to lay down our only weapon Gavin Newsom s redistricting plan We cannot afford to stomp around in a state of high dudgeon while Trump and his comrades crush our democracy We must vote for the redistricting plan and take back the House Then if we survive as a country we can fix it later Rosie Sorenson Richmond Science humanity offer tactics to live with wolves Re We can coexist with predators Why kill them Page A Aug Peter Kareiva former director of UCLA s Institute of the Setting and Sustainability wrote an enlightening article for us to learn about living with wolves successfully When we re not driven by fear we realize we need wolves for the valuable ecosystem services they provide In Yellowstone Park we learned that lesson In the s wolves were killed off to a population of zero With the top predator gone major disruptions for other wildlife plants and the physical condition of the ecosystem developed Wolves were then successfully reintroduced in Yellowstone starting in through a wolf recovery undertaking We don t have to repeat the costly and inhumane mistakes of the past Managing wolf populations with scientifically based and humane methods requires cooperation between all parties and wise expenditure of constituents funds We know how to do that through solutions that protect both ranchers and wolves Deborah Livingstone Fremont Recycling can keep planet safe healthy My name is Maxwell and I m a th-grader at Hayward Twin Oaks Montessori School I m writing to you about recycling which is an fundamental issue because recycling is good for the circumstances A lot of people waste materials such as bottles cans glass and cardboard Instead of throwing these things out we can use recycling bins When we recycle these types of materials can be reused The predicament is that Earth has limited tools When we reuse materials we are saving the planet One thing we can do is make sure that schools have recycling bins We can also make sure students collect and reuse cans bottles and cardboard for projects Thanks for your time Let s keep our planet safe and healthy Maxwell Yiu Castro Valley