Voting unleashes the power of our American democracy

To my children: Please, please, please vote. I believe in the voice of our quiet and private power to vote over the noise that discourages us and encourages us to believe we are powerless.

I’m not asking you to vote for any political party, person or initiative. Your vote is yours and yours alone. Casting your solitary vote seems anemic at best, but voting makes you part of the process.

Voting makes you relevant in our democratic experiment. You are the future of our country and our planet. I’ll be dead and long gone when your children have children, but you will still be dealing with the consequences of many elections that occurred years ago.

Whatever you believe, want or desire for the future, please vote. Chances are, you’ll be disappointed with the outcome, as have I been many times. I promise you, either way, you will not regret voting.

Anne Washmera, Alameda

Dems wrong on oil

Regarding “Biden weighing oil windfall tax” (Nation & World, Nov. 1): President Biden

and the Democratic Party are out of touch with reality.

Biden and the Democrats have made it crystal clear that they want the oil companies to go out of business. Why would the oil companies invest large amounts of money in new production?

Biden and his party need to do a reality check.

The United States and the

rest of the world will need petroleum products for centuries to come.

As long as the federal and state governments continue to clamp down on the companies, they will make as much profit for their shareholders as possible.

Howard Epstein, vice chair of communications, San Francisco Republican Party

A less divisive time

Growing up, I remember my mother being a poll worker. My hometown was about equally divided between the two parties. One year there was a tie for mayor resulting in the candidates splitting the term. Very civil and peaceful.

If my mother was still here and a poll worker in this era of hate, division and ignorance, would she be among the threatened? The thought sickens me. While it wasn’t perfect, my mother lived in a more decent time.

Lawrence Snyder, San Francisco

Unlearning bigotry

Regarding “Players, NBA quiet on toxicity of Irving” (Sporting Green, Nov. 3): I would like to suggest that rather than beating up on Kyrie Irving, we take a restorative justice approach and turn his transgression into a learning experience.

If the movie he recommended denied the Holocaust, let’s require him to do some research and report what he has learned to his followers. He could start, for example, by watching the Ken Burns series “The U.S. and the Holocaust.”

Better yet he could talk to a survivor. I’m sure that could be arranged. The point is that bigotry and racism are not innate. They are learned and what can be learned can be unlearned. All of us have attitudes we need to unlearn.

Give Irving the opportunity to demonstrate how that’s done.

Santiago Mejia/The Chronicle A single vote may not seem like much, but it is part of the democratic experiment in the U.S.