Winston-Salem Journal LTE TH 11/15/2012

We must unite

It takes a long time to get used to the loss of an election. But it's important to remember that when people vote they usually pick the best man for the job.

The loss of an election leaves us with memories of many things the candidates said. As long as we have those memories, we will realize that the best candidate won in spite of the false claims made by the other party.

We must work together for the good of our country.

HAROLD D. FOWLER JR.

Pfafftown

Selecting judges

In the 25 years that she sat on the highest court in this land, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor irreparably disarranged our national jurisprudence. Her sin was not liberalism or conservatism, activism or indolence. It was incoherence.

Guest columnist John Wester (“Judges must be impartial above all else,” Oct. 31) dreams of a North Carolina judiciary populated by clones of O’Connor. His means to that end would be scrapping our judicial elections in favor of something like the “federal model” that selected her.

Wester doubts the competence of the voters to fill any office, but he is prepared to abandon to the electoral “free-for-all” all but the judicial offices. Budding O’Connors, he insists, must be spared the indignities of the ballot box, because “what judges do is different.”

He reminds us, for example, that no member of the General Assembly “signs a death warrant, awards custody of a child, or is the final arbiter of constitutional rights.” But can’t that legislator (along with the requisite number of his colleagues) repeal the death penalty, rewrite the child-custody laws, submit to referendum a state constitutional amendent or ratify an amendment to the Constitution of the United States?

So if what non-judges do is not entirely inconsequential, and if the choice of those officials can safely be left up to those of us who (unlike Wester) aren’t past presidents of the North Carolina Bar Association, maybe it is too soon to give up on our current method of selecting judges.

BARNEY W. HILL

Thomasville

Time for a public forum

Thank you for publishing the splendid guest column by Huber Hanes III, “Stadium proposal is a Hawthorne curve ball” (Oct. 21), weighing the consequences of the encroachment on the remainder of Hanes Park by building a 3,000-seat football stadium on Northwest Boulevard between Hawthorne and Reynolda roads.

This sharp slice with a double-edged sword would, in effect, deal a death blow to the already diminished open space dedicated as a place of beauty for the enjoyment of all citizens of Forsyth County.

As the oldest surviving great-grandchild of Pleasant Henderson Hanes, who gave the land for the park, I would like to weigh in in support of holding a public forum on the question of where this decision would take us. I applaud my cousin Huber for his insight into the problem and foresight far into the future.

EVELYN HORTON RICKERT

Winston-Salem

Finish the Thought

Friday, we asked readers to complete the sentence: “Gridlock in Washington and Raleigh will end when …”

“...we have term limits and yank those privileges the representatives have given themselves out of our tax money. Holding political office is a service to the country, not a career. It's the “careerists” who have ruined this country. They think we work for them instead of the other way around. The quality of the people who actually want to serve this country would vastly improve. Their loyalty would be to the people, not to the party.”

CHRISTINE PULISELIC

“…all sides agree to work together, for the common good of all. Not just themselves.”

WILLIAM SAMS

“It will end in Raleigh when the new governor is sworn in because we will then be owned by Art Pope. It will end in Washington when and if the Republicans leave the alternate reality of Fox News and accept that the American people have given President Obama a mandate.”

CYNTHIA GOUGH NANCE

“… Jesus Christ comes back.”

LEE JOHNSON

“In order for gridlock to end, there needs to be an attitude shift in the elected officials. They must actually represent all of their constituents, not just a few. To accomplish this, we need term limits and a flat tax, because the lobbyists they kowtow to are all about tax breaks and government awards.

“We need an easy way to recall them. Other countries can call early elections, maybe we should, too. In fact, I would not only have that option available, but if a recall election is held, no incumbents can run.

“Then we can say to our elected representatives, just like Donald Trump, ‘You’re fired,’ and they would face cooperation or termination for the lot of them. Maybe that would get their attention.”

KEN HOGLUND

“… elected officials do what is best for the state and nation instead of themselves.”

JANICE HICKS