The end of democracy

To the Editor:

We are already living in a revolution. Even though many Americans seem to think, “Oh well, that's just Trump being Trump. One of his crazy ideas.”

He is in full swing of discrediting the upcoming election. He doesn't “trust” the ballots. He wants to decide whether the outcome is “fair” to him.

The ballots are the voters' will. Not a single democracy that deserves the name. Not the British Queen nor the Emperor of Japan get to review their people's will.

“We'll see” means the end of democracy, the end of the American experiment. Because he, the big man, reserves the judgment to himself.

It may not even be his own idea. Just look at his friends, the dictators of China, North Korea, Saudi Arabia and, of course, his favorite in Moscow, Vladimir Putin. That's how they operate. They even allow “elections,” as long as they can control the results.

Trump is not alone on his path to dictatorship. He appears to assemble hordes of helpers to back him up. A whole political party, which ironically bears the name our Founding Fathers held in awe, as Benjamin Franklin reaffirmed in his famous statement, “We gave you a Republic, if you can keep it.”

Has the whole “Grand Old Party” lost its mind?

Klaus Kraemer

Senate and was reelected in 2004. (In the meantime, he ran for controller again in 2002 and lost. In 2003, he ran for governor in the recall election against Gray Davis. And lost.) He ran for lieutenant governor in 2006. And lost.

But in 2008, Mcclintock ran for Congress here, hundreds of miles away from the senate district he still represents down south. He couldn't even vote for himself because he lived in Elk Grove, which is not in our district. But his legal residence was in Thousand Oaks, in the area that he supposedly represented in the State Senate.

Oops. The California Constitution requires state senators to maintain their legal residence within the district while they are serving. So, no, he really lives in Thousand Oaks, not Elk Grove. Really?

Then, we learned that he had received over $300,000 in living expenses during his time in the State Senate, even though he lived in Elk Grove – commuting distance – for most of the year. He claimed that the payments were justified because his legal residence was in Thousand Oaks. Huh?

This guy seems to do anything to keep himself feeding at the public trough. It doesn't matter where he lives or who he claims to represent – as long as it's good for him.

Gary Sipperley

Twain Harte