MB Civic

To the Editor:

Re “The System’s Broken” (column, Oct. 30):

Bob Herbert is absolutely right. The rhetoric and sound bites have reached ludicrous levels.

It is only and always about “Democratic” or “Republican,” with demonization and extremism on both sides.

Large amounts of money are wasted on “idiotic” campaigns, and the real problems of real people are not addressed.

Perhaps a first step in fixing the mess would be to eliminate party affiliation in voter registration.

Let us all just be “voters” who are in no one’s column and must be persuaded by intelligent and civilized presentations of ideas and programs.

We’ve got to stop the political tribalism that has taken over the democratic process of our Republic!

Andrea Cukor
Berkeley, Calif., Oct. 31, 2006

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To the Editor:

Bob Herbert discusses the fact that many Americans are disenchanted by politics.

Some don’t like the shallow nature of political discourse. But politicians wouldn’t talk down to us if we weren’t so easily manipulated and reluctant to educate ourselves.

Some don’t vote because they think that their vote won’t have any effect, or they don’t support any particular candidate.

For them, the short-term action is simple: Vote for a third party, or write in “none of the above.”

Imagine the message that politicians would receive if the Americans who don’t vote took the trouble to go to the polls to express their anger. It’s a much more powerful message than what they now give, which is “I don’t care.”

While the government bears a great responsibility to fix the system, the American people share much of the blame.

Ashvin Shah
Amherst, Mass., Oct. 30, 2006

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To the Editor:

Reading Bob Herbert’s column about the disengagement of average Americans from the political process, I agreed with him through his analysis of the problem and the implications for our country until he got to a solution: that Americans’ estrangement from politics could be fixed with a series of high-profile, nationally televised town hall meetings.

Gathering typical Americans in charged, televised exchanges using the town-hall format is a recipe for more of the same superficial political exchanges.

The initial impulse to get more people across America talking is the right one. But are we willing to do the hard work to make things right?

That means encouraging Americans from all walks of life to get out of their houses and talk face to face with other community members in nonpartisan dialogue forums, in public meetings or in more informal gatherings.

These may be low profile, but this is what Americans are yearning to do. The last thing we need is another national TV spectacle.

Ruth A. Wooden
President, Public Agenda
New York, Oct. 30, 2006

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To the Editor:

I agree with Bob Herbert’s description of the profound cynicism in America concerning politics and our electoral process.

This civic cynicism, however, breeds non-participation in the electoral process, and that only helps Republicans.

Why else would officials of the ruling party be in the forefront of every single effort to suppress voting rights? They know that low voter turnout is good for them, and they will continue to do all they can to make sure that the system stays broken.

Peter House
Seattle, Oct. 30, 2006