Texas, your votes for president don’t really count. Other states show how we fix that | Opinion

Make more of our votes count

Nebraska and Maine are the only states that allocate their Electoral College votes proportionally. In our polarized political environment, the presidential voting results in all but five or six states are predetermined, leaving most states out of the campaign. Voters who are in the minority in red or blue states such as Texas, Alabama, Maryland and Massachusetts don’t matter in the Electoral College. That means campaigns simply concentrate on the few toss-up states.

Imagine the difference if all electoral votes were in play. Campaigns would need to work all 50 states, and every vote would help determine the final result.

- Paul Park, Fort Worth

Guns don’t belong at state fair

Sensible people have come up with a good policy: Let’s not allow guns at the State Fair of Texas, where there are families with children, teenagers, adults and alcohol. Despite that rule, last year, someone managed to sneak a gun into the fair and got into an argument, and a person got shot.

At a crowded event, can you imagine a well-intentioned gun owner trying to stop another person with a gun and accidentally hitting a child or someone else? I say to Attorney General Ken Paxton, who’s threatened to sue over the firearms ban, and to those like him: We are tired of this.

- Woody Matthews, Fort Worth

Private schools can’t cut it

While politicians push school book bans, bathroom access rules and private school vouchers, public classroom teachers are leaving. According to a recent article in the Star-Telegram, nearly 65% have considered walking away from the profession, one that many of them love. (Aug. 8, 2A, “Race for the exits? A new survey shows how many Texas teachers are looking to quit”) But would you stay in a low-paying, exhausting and often demoralizing job if you had other options?

Think about what this state and country would look like if more than half of public school teachers quit. Don’t imagine that the 98% of the nation’s children who attend public schools would flourish in private schools. They can refuse to enroll students, cancel teacher contracts at will and operate with little or no state oversight.

Privatization isn’t the answer. Start with listening to the teachers — while they’re still around.

- Robyn May, Fort Worth

Higher food prices have a cause

I read in Tuesday’s Star-Telegram about the expected cost of living adjustment for Social Security payments beginning in 2025. (5A, “Retirees could get sizable cost of living adjustment”) The story included a comment from the Senior Citizens League saying any increase will probably be gobbled up by rising food prices, which surged during the pandemic in 2020 and have never abated. Which leads me to wonder: Why vote to continue the inflationary policies of the current administration by electing someone who is complicit in them? It doesn’t make economic sense.

- Steve Himes, Fort Worth

Joe Biden should just resign

With the rapid decline of President Joe Biden and him throwing his support to Vice President Kamala Harris, what will the Democratic convention in Chicago offer besides an anointing or coronation? My folks were loyal Democrats back in the days of Harry Truman and John F. Kennedy, when votes, delegates and elections mattered. This year, one man handed off his delegates like a track runner passing a baton. That isn’t right.

If Biden is so incapacitated that he cannot run, he is too infirm to serve and should resign the presidency. In America, we do not have kings or queens. Sadly, it seems we are ignoring the wishes of ordinary citizens who likely would have voted for another choice. Will the convention offer any substance?

- James A. Marples, Longview