Time to ‘drain the swamp’

In response to “Abolish Electoral College” (Letters to the Editor, Sequim Gazette, Feb. 8, page A-11):

Thank God for the collective common sense of the framers of the United States Constitution for the Electoral College; without that singular piece of wisdom the way would be opened “for demagogues to worm their way into the White House.”

Does the writer realize that without the Electoral College Hillary Clinton would now be president and the country would soon slip into the fetid moral morass of liberalism which is now best characterized by the current events in the People’s Republic of California?

Why should the overpopulated states of California and New York et. al. determine a presidential election? Talk about “disenfranchised voters”!

I favor a change to the Electoral College from a “winner take all” process to a proportional outcome in each state. Example: 70 percent of Washington state counties went for Trump, therefore 70 percent of the electoral vote of Washington State should have gone for Trump. “Drain the swamp.”

Ethan Harris

Sequim

Republicans nullify federal safeguards

You may want to keep a close eye on our Republican-controlled House and Senate in Washington, D.C.

Last week, they nullified federal rules so that now you can strip mine coal in Appalachia on mountaintops which causes pollution of streams, forests and drinking water.

They nullified federal rules that prevented flaring, venting and leaks of natural gas at drilling operations on Bureau of Land Management and tribal lands in the West.

They nullified federal rules that kept federal contractors in compliance with 14 major workplace laws dealing with worker safety, health, wages, disabilities and civil rights.

They nullified federal rules that prevented persons with mental health issues from gun purchases.

They nullified federal rules so that publicly traded companies no longer need to disclose payments to foreign governments for access to our oil, natural gas and minerals. (Peninsula Daily News, Feb. 6, 2017, page A-4)

What kind of world are we leaving our children and grandchildren?

Remember this Cree Indian proverb:

Only when the last tree has died

and the last rivers have been poisoned

and the last fish has been caught

will we realize that we can’t eat money.

Mark McCormick-Fletcher

Blyn