Letters to the editor for Dec. 16

Fixing Congress

Many of us are angry with the gridlock our federal government is experiencing. For instance, we need another stimulus or rescue bill, but we can’t have one, it seems.

Lee Drutman’s book about the Doom Loop says the gridlock comes from having only two parties. Back in the 1950s we had four parties: conservative D’s, liberal D’s, conservative R’s, and liberal R’s. Now there’s only conservative R’s and liberal D’s.

The difference is, with four parties you have to form a coalition with another party to get anything done. Both parties have input, and when a bill is passed, it’s a win for both parties. Major legislation was passed that way. Now passing a bill is a win for the party in power. The only role left for the other party is to obstruct, obstruct, obstruct, and hope to dominate Congress in the next election.

Also, many citizens don’t see themselves reflected in either of the two parties; they don’t see their values or priorities there and they don’t see much reason to vote. If they vote at all, it’s only because they hate the other side so much. That’s a broken democracy!

More parties would solve a lot of problems. A different voting system (such as ranked choice voting) that encouraged third parties would be a big step towards fixing it.

Janet Jordan, Olympia

Executions continue

Amidst all the nonsense regarding the throwing out of the election results, there has been something that seems to be flying under the radar that represents considerable darkness.

There have been 10 executions within the federal system since July as the Trump Administration races to execute prior to Jan. 20, when Joe Biden, who has indicated a desire to eliminate the death penalty, will take office.

Executions do not eliminate the horrors that some inflict upon others and there will be other atrocious crimes that could or would seem to demand the maximum penalty, but in some cases the death penalty will be demanded and in some cases it will not be.

Most death penalties will be litigated and appealed for years costing a vast sum of money and causing continued grief for all involved. Some of the victims’ families claim that there is finally “closure” when the convicted is finally executed. I have my doubts. We must allow the convicted party the right to appeal and continue to appeal because we would all want those same rights of appeal if we were convicted of a crime that we did not do.

I want to believe that we are better than this. We do not need to execute to achieve justice and reach “closure.” The death penalty extends the horror of the crime and the pain that was inflicted upon the loved ones of the victim and the larger community.

Paul Woolson, Olympia

Kudos to our election officials

It was especially encouraging to see the article in The Olympian concerning the Thurston County 2020 election turnout.

The difficulty of conducting this election in the middle of a pandemic, to keep workers safe yet make voting accessible and secure, was a challenge. Thurston County Auditor Mary Hall and her staff faced this in not only the general election in November but also in the primary in August. They reorganized the election office to provide a safe drive-up service at SPSCC for voters to register, obtain replacement ballots, change address, and drop off ballots in person.

Increased interest in this election led to an increase in the number of registered voters in Thurston County by almost 5,000 between July and November. Due to their diligence and the many safeguards in place, only three ballots were identified as possibly fraudulent out of the 169,231 returned ballots.

The League of Women Voters has always encouraged citizen participation in the democratic process. We thank Ms. Hall and her staff for all the work they have done to make this process safe, secure, and accessible for the citizens of Thurston County.

Julie Frick, Vice President, LWV Thurston County