Letters To The Editor

On Fixing the Nation

Your recent article on mental illness and our national psychosis was the right one and I think the best of your articles I’ve ever read. Tying the mental and homeless crisis to what is happening nationally to our politics (and in my own mind) is something I was struggling to put into words. I thought of it as “info-info sickness.”

And BTW, the halfway house you worked at 50 years ago, I assume was the one in the old YMCA building. The first psychology class I took at Harbor College (for a psychology major 58 years ago) had a requirement of going there to see first hand what the reality was. I quit the class the next day and changed my major to architecture. It scared the crap out of me. Couldn’t handle it. 

Yes indeed. That fine line, in my opinion, is breaking down fast and is what you wrote about in your last editorial. I also understand those insights you have as a writer are about the only thing/tool anyone has that could possibly stop the national psychosis we are witnessing. When Americans deny an election and USE the denial itself as an advantage for winning the election next time, and also promote a serial liar with 91 felonies facing him, we’re all in trouble. Getting through to the 75 million people who voted for the Orange One, isn’t working and the psychosis is spreading around the world. 

Richard Pawlowski

Oregon former SP resident

Political Primaries and Caucuses

A political primary is a preliminary election in which the registered voters of a political party nominate candidates for office.  The key word here is preliminary.  The current system allows small states such as Iowa and New Hampshire {assisted by the media} to award front-runner status to the victorious candidate.  From there the candidates travel a path determined by which states wants to “leap frog” the other by moving up their primary dates.  Candidates are whisked across the country without any real ability to distinguish regional issues from national issues.  Consequently, party platforms are determined by a make-it-up-as-you-go approach.  If the primary process were organized on a regional basis, candidates would be able to study the regional issues, campaign to confirm those issues and then receive votes based on the solutions they propose.  A regional approach would also prevent a premature selection of a front runner because success in one region certainly would not guarantee success in the next region.  This would also further validate the process because each state would still have a say all the way down to the end.  Finally, the number of delegates awarded in each state should be determined by the percentage of votes won by each candidate.  And yes, convert the caucuses to primaries.

Accordingly, the political primaries should occur between January and June of each presidential election year.  Each of the six regions would be assigned a particular month.  A lottery held in June of the previous year would determine which month each region holds its primaries.  An example illustrates the format:

Joe Bialek

Cleveland, OH