Time for a cognitive test

To this independent voter, the presidential race has been thoroughly dispiriting. On the Republican side we have a pathological liar with no moral compass, who incited an insurrection against our government. On the Democratic side, we have a person who is simply too old to lead us for four more years. Neither is fit for office.

Can either party correct this before the conventions? That hope is slim in the Republican case: the spineless, ring-kissing followers of Trump are incapable of mounting a challenge. The so-called leaders of the Democratic Party are rallying around Biden, saying the people have spoken. Those primaries were lacking all the significant next-generation leaders, who might have challenged the president had not the party gone all-in for Biden.

We can’t unsee Biden’s performance in the June 27 debate, nor can we ignore Special Counsel Robert Hur’s report, nor the many “uncommitted” Democratic primary voters. Will Biden honor his intent to be a one-term bridge President, put country over ego, and step aside? Will party leadership perceive a need to make way for younger, more vital leaders? Will the Democrats have the guts to have an open convention, letting the cream rise to the top?

Let’s start with both candidates taking a thorough cognitive test, done by an independent neurologist. The future of the American experiment is at stake.

Allan MacDonald

New London

Free to choose no one

Yes. It is your right and mine to vote for the candidate of our choice. Unfortunately for me, as in 2016 and 2020, there remains no one I can vote for without dirtying my dainty little hands. But I have ridiculously high standards. I don’t believe in the lie of separation between a candidate’s personal and private lives. If you’ll betray the ones to whom you owe the most loyalty, you’re sure to betray the populace too, one way or another. If you lie in the crafting of the mythology of your political history, you will lie about many other things too.

Trump is a liar. Biden is a liar. But currently the greatest, ongoing danger to our democracy is the Democratic Party and its relentless assault on free speech. The Republicans and Democrats equally keep assaulting our right to bodily integrity and the liberty of the individual.

It’s too bad, really, but these wretched candidates are no more than the products of us, our culture, our immaturity and our failures to protect our foundational freedoms because we get scared of the boogeyfolks our political class keep threatening us with.

But please, vote your choice. I shall choose “none of the above,” proudly.

Sarah Crysl Akhtar

Lebanon

Settle down, Democrats

Democrats must labor under a death wish. President Joe Biden has clearly stated his intention to continue running for president, and the voters chose him. It is excruciating to listen to the petty and cruel criticisms of this man who is not remotely in the same league as his opponent. Elected leaders against Biden should get over their narcissistic pursuit of attention, and stop whining about self-fulfilling damage to the ticket.

We are fortunate to have a leader with strong ideas, partly fulfilled, who is willing to carry the case forward. To those who are obsessed with one debate, ask yourself: when was the last time you had a bad day? Have you ever scrambled your thoughts? Please show some humility, gratitude and respect! No one can foresee the future. Try facing it with confidence and hope.

Reed Elizabeth Loder

West Lebanon

Thoughts on big government

In “After America,” Mark Steyn wrote “Big government means small citizens: it corrodes the integrity of a people catastrophically.” Scottish politician Joseph Grimond observed that “Bureaucracy is the antithesis of democracy.”

I once noted here that the only alternatives to limited government are unlimited government and no government, to which I would add that the more government does, the less it will do adequately, much less well, and that the more resources government devotes to the benefit of some, the fewer will be available to devote to the benefit of all — its ostensible reason for being.

To the thoughtful, rational person the above are but so many statements of the obvious. And yet Democrats.

As an aside, “democratic” is the only word I can think of which assumes the opposite meaning with the simple capitalization of its first letter.

Anthony Stimson

Lebanon