NC Voices: Attack ads, Ted Budd and disingenuous Democrats

Welcome to NC Voices, where leaders, readers and experts from across North Carolina can speak on issues affecting our communities.

Editor’s note: Readers are especially engaged in this election. We can tell by the volume of letters we’ve received. So this week’s NC Voices is dedicated to publishing those letters.

Political ads

It seems every election cycle the number of deceiving political ads on TV increases. Many contain outright lies or innuendos. Both parties and many PACs are guilty to some degree. By airing these ads, the media are complicit in the loss of civility and spread of disinformation. I know there are other sources of disinformation, but the media does not have contribute to the downfall of this country. Can they not censor the ads they air for factual content?

Daryl Bowman, Raleigh

Don’t be fooled

Pardoning marijuana convictions and releasing strategic oil reserves to drive down gas prices, forgiving student loan debt and promising legislative action on abortion rights... Have the American people become so oblivious to the reasons these actions were taken prior to the election? Asking the Saudis to delay a cut back in oil production until after the election. How obvious can you be? My vote is not for sale. I hope yours isn’t either.

Steve Trexler, Raleigh

Debates

In her Oct. 17 column, Sara Pequeño asks if debates matter. Yes, YES, they do! In a world of cut/paste and photo-shopped attack ads and interviews loaded with softball questions, debates are more crucial than ever because they are real-time, think on your feet events. Candidates are armed with their knowledge and nothing more. If debates have lasted from the time of Homer, I believe we would be wise to maintain this tradition in our politics. I, for one, never make a decision until the debates.

Kimberley Ladue, Raleigh

Political flyers

When I moved here 43 years ago, to vote in primaries I had to register as a member of one of the two main political parties. I chose the Republican Party, later switching to unaffiliated when the law changed. I still get political flyers in support of GOP candidates, but after receiving the recent ones, and watching the ads on TV, I wouldn’t vote for anyone they support. The ads are an insult to thinking citizens, and I hope the majority of voters will consider how anti-democracy, anti-truth, and immoral they are.

Mark Selleck, Waxhaw

GOP and inflation

Many Republican candidates argue that Democrats have done nothing for the average American. Yet, I’ve yet to hear a real plan for how Republicans will handle inflation once elected. Kevin McCarthy didn’t roll out any semblance of a plan until mid-September after polling showed Democrats making gains. Republican leaders spent no time in 2021 offering a proposed solution to inflation because that time was spent appeasing former President Trump’s delusion of unfounded 2020 voter fraud. Being opposed to another political party’s efforts following an unprecedented global public health crisis without proposing any real solutions is disingenuous.

Benjamin Cook, Charlotte

God-given right?

When I read the words “God-given Second Amendment rights” in the Oct. 19 article about U.S. Senate candidate Ted Budd, I got an angry nauseating feeling in my gut.

God didn’t give Budd Second Amendment rights — some of the Founding Fathers did — and they did not mean for this amendment to support guns in the manner they are now used.

Do not use God to defend your political leanings or as an excuse for your desires.

Martha Chapman, Raleigh

Freedom at stake

This election may determine whether or not our country remains a democracy, where government is accountable to citizens through those elected.

Extreme partisanship has moved us towards this.

If extremist minorities of either party can override the will of the majority, the result will be less freedom for everyone else.

Big lies are rampant in the political arena and unless we, as voters, take the time to evaluate them and vote according to some semblance of rationality, the freedoms we enjoy now may be lost.

Sam Haithcock, Durham