Opinion: Anti-Trump protesters are not obstructionists; they’re patriots trying to prevent ‘rotten compromise’

To the editor: Compromise as a means for pursuing our common interest is one thing; “rotten compromise” — Israeli philosopher Avishai Margalit’s term for compromise that reinforces inhumanity and oppression — is another. (“Democrats are copying Republican obstruction tactics. This won’t end well for the U.S.,” Feb. 16)

In the 1850s, Abraham Lincoln’s opponent Stephen Douglas famously sought compromise with slavery, and it seems that Jon Huntsman and Joe Lieberman are determined to be the Stephen Douglases for our time.

Particularly toxic is their falsely equating relentless Republican opposition to President Obama as a political tactic to prevent his reelection with the current resistance of Democrats and much of the public to an administration and a Congress that seem determined to negate every step of economic, social and environmental progress that are supported by strong majorities of the public.

Where compromise is toxic, saying no is the only realistic option.

Michael Farquhar, Altadena

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To the editor: While I agree that “rampant polarization and partisanship” does not bode well for our democracy, I’d be more inclined to tolerate a lecture by Lieberman on the essential role of compromise if he hadn’t already compromised his soul away by introducing to the Senate, with lavish praise, the eminently unqualified Betsy DeVos for secretary of Education.

Those of us taking to the streets are not motivated by “ideological purity,” as Huntsman and Lieberman claim. We march in opposition to Trump’s systematic dismantling of our democracy and to the stunning silence and acquiescence from the vast majority of Republican lawmakers in the face of this tragedy.

We will not “get out of the way.”

Mary Rose O’Leary, Los Angeles

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