Skip to footer

Readers Write: Democrats didn't lose to personality; US hypocrisy on Israel

Letters to the Editor for the December 16, 2013 weekly magazine:

Citizens need to know how the candidates and the issues affect their state before they cast their votes. And the Democratic Party needs to be honest about why candidates win or lose.

Calls for US support of religious freedom will be sanctimonious hypocrisy as long as we fail to insist on real democracy and a fully secular resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

| Stratford, N.J. and Mechanicsburg, Pa.

Democrats didn't lose to personality

I would like to respond to some points included in the write-up of highlights from the Monitor Breakfast with Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin, chair of the Democratic Governors Association, that appeared in the Nov. 18 issue. Accounting for GOP Gov. Chris Christie's reelection victory in New Jersey, Mr. Shumlin said New Jersey voters focused on Mr. Christie's "oversized personality."

I am a New Jersey Democrat who (almost) always votes Democratic. I supported Christie because he supports the people of New Jersey. I do not agree with Christie all the time, but I know where his heart is. I don't vote for his "personality." In my view, his Democratic opponent was a stand-in candidate because Christie was unbeatable.

Shumlin also said that the recent announcement by Michael Michaud, the Democratic candidate for governor of Maine, that he is gay will have "no effect on the race." Coincidentally, my husband and I are moving to Maine in 2014 and will be supporting Mr. Michaud for governor. Residents need to know how the candidates and the issues affect their state before they cast their votes. And the Democratic Party needs to be honest about why candidates win or lose.

Joann Gershman

 Stratford, N.J.

US hypocrisy on Israel

Thank you for Katrina Lantos Swett's Nov. 18 commentary, "JFK was right about religious freedom's promise." True religious freedom would indeed curb sectarian strife and extremism. And yes, American diplomats and forward thinkers should be advocating for such freedom worldwide. But how will countries in the Middle East be able to hear, much less understand, that message when so many American religious, political, and business leaders praise and protect Israel as "The Jewish State" while turning a blind eye to its persecution of Palestinians and other Arabs?

Calls for US support of religious freedom will be sanctimonious hypocrisy as long as we fail to insist on real democracy and a fully secular end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in line with international law and human rights.

Anne Selden Annab

Mechanicsburg, Pa.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to Readers Write: Democrats didn't lose to personality; US hypocrisy on Israel
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/Readers-Respond/2013/1216/Readers-Write-Democrats-didn-t-lose-to-personality-US-hypocrisy-on-Israel
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe