System failure… Industrial capture…
System failure
In “What was the most important factor in the defeat of Kamala Harris?” (January 2025), Isabella M. Weber and Eli Mistall debate whether the cost-of-living crisis or bigotry was decisive. Neither factor killed Harris’ candidacy; it was ‘status quoism’ and its heresies, hypocrisy and arrogance that overturned an otherwise functional democratic governance. Jeet Heer’s insightful analysis in the same issue (“System-wide failure“) cannot be overstated: “Democrats lost because they allowed Trump to be the lone voice of anger against the establishment.”
Ba row MJE
Santa Barbara, California
Weber and Mistal make valid arguments as to why Harris was defeated. But the framing of the debate leaves out what I believe was the most important factor: messaging. Team Trump just made better television. I use the term broadly to include all the ways in which people receive mediated information. Politics didn’t matter as much as it should have. Republicans have mastered the media—starting years ago with Fox News and Clear Channel Radio. Now it’s X and Joe Rogan and Steve Bannon War room. We don’t need to play the same disinformation game, but we should at least understand it.
Ze Ejacomb
Karlsruhe, Germany
Thank you for Callie Holloway’s column that so clearly articulates the woes of so many black women voters (“The sting of betrayal”, January 2025). I’m not sure we were really optimistic; it was more about Harris mine to win because of how disruptive a second Trump administration would be everything Americans. In many ways, those who stayed at home bear more responsibility for the outcome than those who bought into the delusion of his economic aid to the masses.
BErnadet JAneta
portland, or
Weber and Mistal debate whether voter greed or bigotry is to blame for Trump’s election. Obviously, inside the blue bubble of identity, you are not allowed to admit: (1) that we are an oligarchy, not a democracy; (2) that Democrats have become champions of Eternal Wars; (3) that the Biden-Harris administration is—even now—engaging in ethnic cleansing that has ended thousands of innocent lives, destroyed America’s standing in the world, compromised international and domestic law, and embarrassed our country; (4) that donors control the Democratic Party, and the wants, needs, and fears of ordinary voters no longer carry weight within the party.
I understand that you are forbidden from admitting these things that almost every American already knows, but if there are people who still support the fighting party and have the moral fortitude to look in the mirror and stand up for something real, here’s why you lost: you are ok with killing children.
BRian Fwool
portland, or
Current issue
Capture of industry
As a former hunter, I read Jimmy Tobias’s article on chronic wasting disease with interest (“Dawn of the Zombie Deer”, November 2024). His report on the lack of adequate response to the disease is spot on. Unfortunately, Tobias also echoes the hunting industry’s misinformation that hunting is about putting food on the table, getting outdoors, and controlling deer overpopulation.
Chronic wasting disease was able to cross the Mississippi because infected animals were transported to deer farms. From growing trophies for sport to selling scent (doe urine) for bait, deer farms are specifically designed to benefit hunters. Even urine sold at retail across the country can spread disease. Species are deliberately manipulated into overpopulation so that a dwindling minority of hunters can boast what amounts to an expensive hobby. There will be no stopping the spread of CWD as long as the hunting industry and its minions in our state wildlife agencies continue to enjoy such exclusive and unchallenged power.
Denthusiastic Kverogas
Newton township, p
Tobias writes that chronic wasting disease in deer “threatens people’s ability to obtain protein for their families independently of the grocery chains and corporate meat suppliers that dominate our food system.” This contributes to the myth that our only source of protein is meat. If a hunter wants to harvest protein for his family, planting a vegetable garden will yield a much larger crop of healthier, more sustainable food.
Current meat consumption not only leads to high rates of cardiovascular disease and cancer, it is also unsustainable. The fossil fuel energy, water, and land needed to raise livestock and the cash crops to feed them can be dramatically reduced and better directed if converted to growing fruits, vegetables, and grains that actually feed people. That’s even without considering that shooting wildlife that roams its habitat is cruel, inhumane and barbaric.
Mangry Kpersonnel
Hidden Hollow Farm
great springs, Fr
