Readers write: Letters to the editor, November 10, 2016

What do you think about the victory of Donald Trump?

Trump's triumph is a hard shot to the establishment. What's your take on it? What do you think it means for Alaska? Please send your thoughts to letters@adn.com. We'll publish as many as we can in the coming days.

Political asteroid shatters US

As we study history, we observe that all past empires experienced a rise and fall. Wisdom, a strong economy and a highly functioning government are required to maintain a nation and an empire. America has just experienced a political asteroid, the proverbial last straw, which may well accelerate our decline as a nation and empire, making us a joke on the world stage and not to be taken seriously.

This does not bode well.

— David Werner
Palmer

Cuts to education hone GOP win

In the presidential election, Republicans won the less-educated vote, while Democrats won the more-educated vote. Now we understand why Republicans consistently cut funding for education.

— Rick Wicks
Anchorage

Happy to boot out Democrats

To Obama and Hillary: Good riddance! No meanness intended, just the honest truth for once.

— Rolf L. Bilet
Anchorage

Call for Alaska electoral reform

In the presidential election, the popular vote and the Electoral College split again, for the second time in 16 years. Taken in conjunction with all the shenanigans in both major parties and the deep dissatisfaction voiced by many voters, it seems like a prime time to implement electoral reform.

One possibility to consider: Maine passed a proposition favoring ranked choice voting, a measure that would encourage people to vote their conscience — even if that means a third party — without having the effect of "throwing away" their vote. A similar system would make good sense in a state like Alaska, with a sizeable bloc of independent voters.

— Kimberly McGinnis
Fairbanks

Grateful to live in voting nation

At 7:05 a.m. on Election Day there was a line out the door at my polling place — unprecedented in my experience as someone who votes in every election. It made my heart happy to see so many citizens valuing this precious right of electing our own leaders, and grateful I live in a nation where I have this privilege.

— Wendy Withrow
Anchorage

Result shows GOP’s real ‘values’

Congratulations to those "family values" voters who helped elect someone so clearly close to their values.

Congratulations to those voters who wanted to "throw out the professional politicians." You kinda succeeded by voting out the Democratic politicians who tried to make government work for the people and leaving in the Republican professionals who worked to create the mess you were angry about in the first place.

Congratulations to those who wanted the government to value the little guy and thought voting Republican would be the answer. I expect those Republicans will lower taxes on the rich and effectively raise taxes on everyone else.

Congratulations to those who voted Republican thinking it would get you jobs. Maybe in the service industry: "Want fries with that?"

I truly hope I am wrong, but I suspect these next four years are not going to be good for America's image or its economy.

— Alex Koponen
Fairbanks

Glad US did not vote in Clinton, destroyer of nations

I'm relieved Hillary Clinton — destroyer of nations for profit and hegemony (Libya and Syria) — is not president-elect. I'm concerned Mr. Trump is just as much a cold-blooded, profiteering warmonger.

For the moment, stock markets are "tumbling" at the prospect of Donald Trump as president of the United States of America. That's poetic justice! Wall Street has been buying and selling Republicans and Democrats all along — and finally got sold short themselves.

Wall Street used to own the Republican Party. But they allowed right-wing religious lunatics, tea partiers and assorted fringe groups to take control. Trump claimed salvage rights on the inevitable Republican shipwreck and took over the party.

So the Wall-Street-big-bank-corporate-war-machine-money-media lobby went to plan B and purchased the Democratic Party outright. The neo-liberal Clinton Democrats dutifully prerigged their primary to get rid of anti-corporate candidate, Bernie Sanders — and installed the corporate queen.

Big loss for big money. Its "investment" went bad! A bright spot in this sordid election. But don't get rid of "Obamacare" just yet, folks. This is a pre-existing condition.

The same right-wing, single-issue groups such as the anti-abortionists, anti-gays, anti-women and anti-"Obamacare" people who wrecked the hell out of the Republican Party and the political process are now empowered and in charge, led by an erratic incompetent.

President Trump is right now consulting corporate lobbyists for hints on choosing his Cabinet. The markets will recover — at least until they totally wreck the world economy. The corporate dictators gave us a lousy selection and we made a lousy choice. Those who voted for Trump did so mostly for the wrong reasons.

— Rudy Wittshirk
Willow

The people get what is deserved

A recent op-ed quoted H.L. Mencken's definition of democracy and it bears repeating: "The theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard."

— John F. Harris Jr.
Wasilla

Democratic Party taken over by ‘progressive’ communists

A while back the voters of Great Britain voted to leave the European Union. Many politicians and most of the media continue to rail about how stupid the voters were in making such a disastrous decision. However, the voters are tired of a dysfunctional EU that costs them their freedom.

Here in the United States, we have political parties that run the political process at taxpayer expense. The tea party was formed out of dislike for the Democratic and Republican parties, although most individuals were more inclined to vote in a conservative manner. The Republicans didn't understand the message. They continued to ignore the people and promote the idea of doing nothing and waiting for the Democrats to fail.

The Democrats have been completely overtaken by the "progressives" — the name used to rebrand communism when people started to hear of the abuses in the former Soviet Union. Their members must vote as the party decrees. As Clinton prepared for her coronation, even many die-hard Democrats were disgusted.

After fighting a bitter and costly Revolutionary War, George Washington was offered a crown. Even 200 years ago there were people who felt it was better to grovel at the feet of a sovereign.

The political parties and the ignorant media still don't understand. They continue to think anyone who doesn't want to end our individual freedoms and return to a government dictating to the people must be some sort of backwoods idiot. Maybe it's time for the media to read some history.

— Arthur Solvang
Willow

Putin is master of Trump puppet

One cannot help thinking of Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy — the ventriloquist and his dummy — at times like these. Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump — the master and the apprentice!

— Archie Gottschalk
Eagle River

GOP slams door on moderates

Congratulations, America. We've elected a thin-skinned bully who swears at celebrities on Twitter as our president. The first openly minority-hostile and misogynistic president I've ever seen. An anti-vaccine, climate change denier, serial liar and tone-deaf xenophobe who thinks the world revolves around him. A power-hungry demagogue because "why not?" That's always seemed to have worked out so well historically.

Now people want unity? Where was this call for unity when he called Hillary "the devil" on national TV? Where was the call for unity when he belittled the Khan family's religion and grief over losing their son in Iraq?

All of my adult life I've considered myself more or less politically moderate. That ended on Nov. 8. This is a GOP I don't recognize and one I want nothing to do with. This election has turned a self-described independent into a hard-line Democrat. Because there is no intellectual argument for Trump — and by extension no intellectual argument for this new Republican Party. The only argument for him, and the GOP, is hatred and ignorance. And as a Christian that's something I don't want in my life.

The door between the GOP and moderates has just been slammed shut. And it wasn't by us.

— Colin Ossiander

Chugiak

The views expressed here are the writers' own and are not necessarily endorsed by Alaska Dispatch News, which welcomes a broad range of viewpoints. To submit a letter under 200 words for consideration, email letters@alaskadispatch.com, or click here to submit via any web browser. Submitting a letter to the editor constitutes granting permission for it to be edited for clarity, accuracy and brevity. Send longer works of opinion to commentary@alaskadispatch.com.