Dear Editor,
Because I am more worried about the future of our country than at any other time during my 77 years, I ask you and the Juneau Empire to step forward in the fight to protect our democracy.
I fear that we have chosen a president-elect who thinks that whatever he happens to say is the truth. I fear he is reckless and this view is strengthened when I read that he doesn’t take advantage of briefings from recognized experts. Listening to views doesn’t mean adopting them, but no leader should be arrogant enough not to listen. David Brooks expressed this much more eloquently in his Jan. 3 column in the New York Times: “They (the wise leaders) gather their advisors around them and they debate alternatives — with briefing papers, intelligence briefings and implementation strategies.”
I ask you to keep running editorials from a sampling of papers across the country. I ask you to write your own editorials about the national scene and invite us readers to respond. I urge you to develop a regular posting and exposure of circulating fake news. I encourage you to expand the space you dedicate to Letters to the Editor and to actively encourage a local continuing dialogue.
In the coming administration the public must be vigilant, and Congress must do its job. I encourage other readers to do what I am trying to do, i.e., keep myself informed and write often to express opinions to our Alaskan delegation. Although I often disagree with positions taken by our three congressional representatives I believe that, partisan politics aside, they have the well-being of the country at heart. I write and ask them to use whatever authority and influence they have to curb abuses, to rein in the administration when necessary and to, in plain terms, do right and preserve our nation.
Sincerely,
Richard Stokes
Juneau
