Wither the centre ground
Far too few Republicans are prepared to stand up for the sensible and staid party it once was, known for its belief in free markets and private enterprise (“In his image”, January 1st). Donald Trump may have no true convictions at all and so he’s happy to promote the Republicans’ new focus: the protection of personal liberties, a category that has broadened to include the right to threaten the wellbeing of the vulnerable, as in the belligerent behaviour of anti-vaxxers. To its great shame, the party also tolerates political viciousness, as well as the poisonous notion that the government is engaged in a “purge” of “patriots”, otherwise known as voters who can’t accept a loss with grace.
When, every so often, Democrats claim that moderate Republicans are extinct, I pipe up and say, “Still here.” But it does appear now that the party has decided we are expendable. If they cared to retain our support, the leadership would have the courage to risk dispatching the bully in our midst, demand that he stop sabotaging the campaigns of the centre-right candidates who are most palatable to voters, and tell him point blank that the party can no longer afford the ongoing damage his continued insistence on a stolen election has done the Republican brand.
MARGARET MCGIRR
Greenwich, Connecticut
If it is correct to call the storming of the Capitol on January 6th 2021 an “insurrection”, then why has no one arrested in connection with those events been charged with insurrection, which is, after all, a federal crime under the United States Code?
HUGH MYERS
St Albans, Hertfordshire
One of the fastest-growing electoral reforms in America is the use of ranked-choice voting. By allowing voters to rank their preferences, their vote is not split among similar candidates. Ranked choice has support from moderates in both American parties. It has enabled centrist Republican senators in Alaska and Maine to stand up to Mr Trump without the fear of being deselected at the next election. Glenn Youngkin, whom you described as a “country club” Republican, was selected as the party’s candidate for governor of Virginia using a ranked-choice vote at a statewide convention. More elections should use rcv.
KATHRINE SANTOS
Executive member Liberal Democrats for Electoral
Reform
London