Mr. Donegan’s recent opinion piece is unusually uninspiring (“Democratic postmortem,” Jan. 16). Not that I disagree with what he has to say about the Democrats. On the contrary, I agree with most of it. I was a Democrat for years until Clinton came along—the first Clinton. After his antics in the White House, I could not vote for his second term. I voted for Perot. It was not for moral reasons but because I felt that Clinton’s abysmal lack of discretion made him too stupid to be president.
I have since come to learn that intelligence is not a requirement for the office at all. Hillary with her profound arrogance and air of entitlement did not appeal to me either. I was disgusted by the fact she and Clinton managed to enrich themselves making speeches to special interest groups at a quarter of a million dollars a clip. Goldman Sachs was so enthralled that they bought three speeches. So now and for forever I am an independent.
One of the main things that bothered me is the hypocrisy of the Donegan piece. He states that Democrats should “learn to tolerate and not censor opposing opinions.” Just when did the Republicans start doing that? Give me a break.
Donegan also tacitly acknowledged the foul and disgusting nature of our new (or rather recycled) president’s character, but like most of his Republican ilk he chooses to blame the victory of his candidate on the Democrats, as if that would absolve him and others of the responsibility for the actions of their leader. I suppose a similar logic was employed at the end of the German Weimar Republic: “von Hindenburg is too old. Hitler might be a scumbag but at least he’s different. He will get things done and we can all make a buck.” He sure did get things done, albeit not exactly what they had in mind, and they were all guilty of allowing it to happen.
I think it obvious that since Citizens United, candidates from both parties all work for the same bosses. We no longer have elections, we have auctions. We might as well let Musk sit in the Oval Office as the Official Highest Bidder. But that might not fly because he is an immigrant and therefore not really an American.
Finally, considering the situation, the title should have been “Democracy Postmortem.”
Mark Henry
San Luis Obispo
This article appears in Jan 23 – Feb 2, 2025.