With Harris pick, Democratic Party’s hypocrisy is on full display | Opinion

Democrats

The party that constantly complains that Donald Trump is a threat to democracy just pushed out the candidate their own process overwhelmingly chose and unilaterally nominated a presidential candidate no one actually voted for. Hypocrisy is alive and well in the Democratic Party.

Lee Hortman, Raleigh

Harris’ record

My father and my husband’s father did not fight their way across Europe to Germany like so many others so that fascism could come to the U.S. in the guise of the Trumpist Republican Party platform. I am touched by President Joe Biden’s act of passing the torch to Kamala Harris so she can continue to strengthen NATO alliances, continue social programs that lift many into the middle class by creating jobs, and improve the environment, health care, education and Social Security benefits. This country is strengthened by a stronger middle class, not by a coven of multi-billionaires. Harris is the correct choice to lead by example and restore women’s rights and powers over their own bodies, including when and if to have families, educations and careers.

Jesse Kaufmann, Hillsborough

NC is in play

I am tired of articles about swing states that don’t mention North Carolina. I am organizing neighbors to canvass and we are finding voters are highly motivated by down-ballot candidates. They don’t want the extremist Republicans candidates for governor, secretary of state and judgeships and want to break the legislature’s supermajority. They’re appalled by Project 2025 and threats to reproductive freedom. I hope national Democratic leadership provides ample funding for our newly energized party.

David Dickinson, Durham

Tariffs

The writer is an NCSU professor emeritus of economics.

Tariffs have become popular with presidential candidates in both major parties. The likely effect: If a tariff of $100 is imposed on steel, the price of imported steel will rise by $100. A tariff is merely a sales tax that will be passed on to buyers. Increased demand for tariff-exempt U.S. steel will cause its price to rise by approximately $100 also.

Many products contain steel — autos, dishwashers, steel beams for housing and more. Higher costs will be passed on to consumers for a wide range of products made with steel. Exporters to the U.S. will claim treaty rights to retaliate by reducing purchases of U.S. exports. These expected effects are verified by strong empirical support from U.S. economic history and other countries. Tariffs are a way to “Make America Poorer” again.

Thomas Grennes, Raleigh

Hateful rhetoric

North Carolina Republican convention delegate Michele Woodhouse’s July 16 implication that Democratic Party partisan rhetoric is partially to blame for the recent assassination attempt on Donald Trump is ludicrous. A vast majority of hateful, violent and nasty rhetoric comes from the GOP.

Trump himself falsely claimed President Biden had authorized the FBI to kill him when searching Mar-a-Lago for classified documents. It was N.C. Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson who said “some folks need killing.” And Michele Morrow, the Republican nominee for N.C. Superintendent of Public Instruction, suggested we hold a public execution of President Obama and sell tickets.

It’s also the GOP that is refusing to address the proliferation of AR-15-style rifles used in a vast majority of our country’s violent and mass killing events.

Stan Kimer, Raleigh

Our new normal

We’ve all complained about the hot days lately. Some have also experienced long periods of dry days broken by torrential rain and localized flooding.

According to the latest National Climate Assessment we can expect “increasing intensity of climate stressors in the Southeast, including extreme heat, extreme precipitation events, drought persistence and strength, sea level change and tropical cyclones...”

What we’re experiencing is not some fluke, but exactly what climate scientists tell us is our new normal. It’s time to stop complaining and start demanding that local, state and federal elected officials get serious about addressing climate change.

Scott Shuford, Hillsborough