The Reagan myth
David Shribman quotes a former White House speechwriter to say, “One of the reasons Reagan was so popular after Jimmy Carter was that he restored some dignity to the office” (”What it means to be presidential,” Crossroads, Nov. 27).
Yes, that is the LETTERS popular view of the Teflon president who followed the Velcro one, but being popular doesn’t make it any less false.
I wonder what is so dignified about the way Ronald Reagan immediately removed the solar panels from the White House roof and went back to the huge limos that Jimmy Carter had down-sized four years earlier? Not all Americans were thrilled with Reagan’s election in 1980 and ’84, nor has his now iconic legacy received universal worship.
What makes for dignity in the oval office is a matter of perspective.
John Helt
Redistricting still urgent
In his letter of Nov. 27, “Democrats shouldn’t dominate,” William Jaeck tries to draw a sport analogy to the redistricting issue in Wisconsin (Letters).
Then he veers into the Electoral College, which is poised to elect the Republican candidate who trails in the national popular vote count by 2 million. Veering back to Wisconsin, he asks, “Why should these few (Democratic counties) dominate the rest of the 72 counties of Wisconsin?”
Here’s the answer: They should not and they do not.
Jaeck seems to compare these few “Democratic pockets” to one team in a World Series and the many other counties to the opposing team. True, in the World Series, the victory belongs to even a very lowscoring team that nevertheless wins four out of seven games. However, each baseball team fields the same number of players; whereas our counties (and states) have populations of greatly varying sizes.
In the final stage of electing a president of the United States, by contrast, each state of the union has but one vote in the Electoral College, according to Constitution, irrespective of the number of citizens voting in the state.
The issue of redistricting is only distantly related to that of the Electoral College. For our other elections, however, issues being litigated in the courts, such as voter access and gerrymandering in Wisconsin, are still very urgent.
Paul Misner