Electoral College protects small states
A lot is being said about doing away with the Electoral College and switching to a national popular vote system. When the Founding Fathers were creating our government, they didn’t want the president to be chosen by three or four heavily populated areas. If the popular vote were to be used, then the president would almost certainly have been somebody from New York, Boston or Philadelphia.
This would have been a huge mistake because the rest of the country would not be accounted for. It is the same way today. If you don’t count New York City, Chicago or Los Angeles, Donald Trump might have won the popular vote. These three cities might choose presidents for the next 100 years without the rest of the country, including Maine, having any influence at all. That is the genius of the system, and exactly why it was set up that way.
Mike Sherrard
Calais
Good parenting
I would like to thank Meg Haskell for her Dec. 1 Bangor Daily News column about her stepfather. In a time when we hear so much about dysfunction in families, it is a great pleasure to read about someone parenting in a way that causes a child to flourish and develop emotional well-being. That it was her stepfather and that he so fully embraced her as his own makes it an even better story. I intend to read this story to my ethics classes at school as we wind down the semester, in order to speak of our power to influence other lives for the good.
Bill Johnson
Pittsfield
Bennett should not vote for Trump
I am a new voter in the 2nd Congressional District, and I understand that Richard Bennett is representing my family in the upcoming electoral vote. I would encourage him not to vote for Donald Trump. I feel it is important for him to demand a debriefing of the U.S. intelligence on Russian interference in the election before Dec. 19.
I am a registered independent and do not vote on party lines. Beyond the danger of the possible Russian influence, I am against Trump because I do not think he is qualified to be president. It has been demonstrated time and time again that he regularly lies to the media and the public, often going against his own words. He does not represent our diverse population, but only a segment of our society.
I feel it is dangerous that Trump refuses to attend briefings of the current administration. I also feel like he is trying to unravel the fabric of our society with the appointments he is attempting to make. Furthermore, the chief legal advisors of the administration of George W. Bush and Barack Obama have both warned us that he will be breaking several constitutional laws the moment he takes office. All of this should be carefully considered before Bennett casts his vote.
I hope that Bennett will act in the best interest of our country.
Lee Leonard
Blue Hill
Trump offensive to women
Jeremy Robichaud in his Dec. 12 BDN letter to the editor affirmed, through his experience with his wife, what millions of American women felt after the predatorial comments expressed by our president-elect. His letter gave me hope once more that there are real decent men still out there. My late husband was one of those.
The Donald Trump comments that elicited the strong reaction in his wife did the same to me. I could not help but well up in tears as all of my past experiences resurfaced, as it did for the millions of others after his words were released to the press.
I was then crushed once again by the terrible first online comment on his letter, where he was told to go downtown and burn his man card, and then asking if his wife made him write the letter.
Robichaud is leading the way.
Marjorie Monteleon
Southwest Harbor