To the editor: While I appreciate any argument against voting for Donald Trump as someone who could ever bring peace to the world, columnist Robin Abcarian's assumption that voting for a third-party candidate is simply “against Kamala Harris” is wrong in regarding the state of our country and the world.
It's insulting to assume that voting for the status quo that Democrats (and non-Trump Republicans) represent is what any logical, peace-loving person would do.
It ignores the fact that there has been a bipartisan effort since World War II to impose “free market capitalism” on our lives, either at gunpoint or with the threat of impoverishing us if we do not participate in the globalized system of exploitation and deregulated environmental and economic competition.
For hundreds of millions of people around the world, freedom is not just about defeating those who threaten reproductive rights and the mass expulsion of immigrants. It consists of meaningful social safety nets, real environmental protections, and an end to American economic and military imperialism.
Gaza was destroyed under a Democratic president, but are we to believe that a vote for Harris will save it? Promises to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are ineffective and are we to believe that our grandchildren will not suffer immensely from climate change?
Matthew Neel, Sherman Oaks
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To the editor: Abcarian's speech to voters outraged by US-backed abuses against Palestinians boils down to this: Things are bad for you under President Biden (but not for the rest of us), things will stay bad for you under Harris (but not for the rest of the world). us), we think things will be worse for you under Trump (and probably for the rest of us too), so please keep the rest of us comfortable and not vote your conscience.
In effect, Abcarian tells us that we and our concerns do not matter enough to justify defined policies to end US-funded Israeli war crimes. For their sake and the sake of others who are equally comfortable with empty arguments, I hope Democrats motivate many other voters to join them, because we are not moved by this reasoning.
Nadir Elfarra, Los Angeles
