Dear Editor:

There are so many issues that trouble us. Folks I talk to worry about homelessness and the cost of housing for everyone, rising crime, gas prices, and unemployment. At the top of my list, I would add the threat of climate change, skyrocketing inequality of wealth in our nation, and most immediately, the COVID-19 pandemic.

The impulse to “blow up the whole mess” and “throw the bums out” is understandable. But our problems are structural, and have developed over decades under both Republicans and Democrats. And California is partially a victim of its own success.

Recalling Gavin Newsom at this time solves none of our problems. None of the replacement candidates have answers that are credible enough to even get them close to winning a normal election. And the leading candidate, Larry Elder, would undermine all the good progress that California has made in battling COVID-19. He would “repeal mask mandates on day one,” and try to send us down the path of the disasters in Florida and Texas.

And for me, the final question is this: do we believe in democracy, or not? This recall process is fundamentally undemocratic. Under the current recall process, it is possible for the sitting governor to be removed, even though she/he receives significantly more votes than the person selected as a replacement. In other words, Newsom, with 49% approval votes, might be replaced by a person who only received 30% of the replacement votes. How is this democracy?

If a credible challenger can defeat the incumbent, let him or her do so in a democratic election. The people fairly elected Newsom, let the people fairly elect the next governor in 2022.

Frank Kearns
Downey