Even though it concerned me that Jeff Krauth made some serious charges in a guest column last month for which he gave no evidence, I appreciated his attempt to begin a discussion about our two-party system and how ineffectively it works in Congress.
However, he lost my respect when he cited a “clever turn of phrase” and suggested that it was wrong to vote “for the evil of two lessers.” Evil, Mr. Krauth? Donald Trump very successfully destroyed the other Republican candidates by attaching demeaning (Little Marco) and sometimes libelous (Lying Ted) labels to people.
When you do the same to one of our Democratic candidates, you not only sink to his level, but you also show your indifference to what is really at stake in this election.
The president does not have the power to enact anything without Congress. Bernie Sanders and his campaign can change that. If Hillary Clinton wins the nomination, and instead of dropping out, the Sanders campaign uses that power to work toward getting six more Democratic senators into office, the following can happen:
Sanders can become the Senate majority leader, which means he has the power to choose the chairs of committees; Sanders will represent the majority of the Senate in meeting with President Clinton on shaping legislation; Sanders will have the power to influence Clinton before she submits any name for the Supreme Court. There is one opening now and most probably another opening soon.
If this were a choice between Sanders and Clinton, I would not worry. But it is a choice between having a Republican Party controlled by the “Dixiecrats” who bolted the Democratic Party when it pushed through desegregation legislation in the 1960s, and the Democratic Party, which no longer has those segregationists influencing their platform. Think beyond the presidential nominees. The whole world is watching.
Cynthia Loring MacBain
Easthampton