Stop whining

Joe Delmore laments that we haven't had a Republican governor in 30 years and says it damages our two-party system [“Can a Republican regain Washington’s governorship?” Opinion, Nov. 13].

He also complains that Republicans have to win at least 40 percent of the vote in King County to win statewide office.

Why is this a problem? It's called democracy and if the Republican Party cannot field a candidate who appeals to a majority of the voters statewide, would Delmore suggest we should just elect a Republican anyway for balance?

Rob McKenna was a bad candidate who wasted taxpayer dollars signing onto a lawsuit against the Affordable Care Act that was already in the courts. Field a good candidate and maybe they'll win. Until then, quit whining.

— David Pfeifle, Lynnwood

The answer

Joe Delmore answered his own question in his op-ed. He alludes to “hard work, a belief in God, and fiscal conservatism” as valid ideas that attract people from all walks of life.

We may all agree on the virtues of hard work, but our country has ceased to reward hard work justly, largely due to Republican distortions of the economic playing field.

Some of us believe in godhead — lots of gods, in fact, not just the gods that dominate the Christian right. And others of us don't.Whether we do or not, most of us believe the Founding Fathers got it right when they enshrined separation of church and state as fundamental to our democracy.

As for fiscal conservatism, there has been no more profligate influence on our dire economic circumstances than the prosecution of two wars (one entirely unjustified) on credit. Not only were Americans not asked to sacrifice, they were given tax breaks to mollify them.

I'm dumbfounded that any sentient citizen could have been persuaded to vote for a candidate aligned with such cynical foolishness.

— Stuart Weibel, Seattle