To the editor: The march to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago inadvertently highlights the need to move beyond the polarizing two-party system. This could be achieved by reforming our electoral system and seems to be a central issue for social justice activists.
I'm sure I'm not the only one wondering whether withholding support for the Democratic candidate, as some Palestinian supporters promise, is really something that would help Palestinians or any other marginalized people.
Therein lies the madness of our two-party system.
A key issue for activists today is transforming the way we elect our officials to go beyond the “first-past-the-post” system. In an Al Jazeera op-ed last January, journalist Christian Rhodes noted that during the first half of the 20th century, many cities used a single-pass transferable voting system, but that this system was abandoned “largely because of hostility toward the racial and ethnic minorities who benefited from it.”
Electoral reform is a powerful way to think globally and act locally.
Let us toast to freedom and peace for the Palestinians and all those whose freedom is undermined by our country's two-party system.
Deborah Perticara, La Grange Park, Illinois.
..
To the editor: Where were all these pro-Palestinian protesters during the Republican National Convention last month?
Trump and Republicans have been staunch supporters of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for years. It was two Republican House Speakers, Reps. John Boehner (Ohio) and Mike Johnson (Louisiana), who invited Netanyahu to speak before Congress.
Netanyahu and his henchmen deserve to be denounced in the strongest possible terms.
So why are organizers protesting only at the Democratic National Convention? Are Democrats an easier target than Republicans? Or is there something going on here that we're not aware of?
Martin Parker, Thousand Oaks
