Our founders observed that patience and deference to government are afforded in amazingly great supply by the governed; that people have a capacity to endure — even with a charitable countenance — the decisions made by our empowered leaders.

I do not know when limits are reached, but it seems to me that by now personal savings and resources are close to exhaustion. Private property in all its forms, as a key element of the pursuit of happiness, is in grave danger for a great many of our fellow citizens; and the continued government largesse that mortgages the future is unwise.

Franklin D. Roosevelt said that fear is “a nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.” This is a simple, profound truth.

Let’s find better motivations than fear to drive thoughtful governance that accepts the presence of risk and the capacity of the people to mitigate it.

John Hansen

Waipahu

Honolulu has two good choices for mayor

My hope for the future has been elevated by the “Insights on PBS” presentation of the two finalist Honolulu mayoral candidates on Sept. 17.

Either of these political neophytes can bring refreshing change to the administration of local government, and I was struck with the thought that whoever is elected should select the other to be his right-hand city manager.

Jerry Mershon

Mililani

Protect Hanauma Bay from abuse by visitors

I visited Hanauma Bay last year with visitors from the mainland. I told them we had to watch a video about protecting the reef before we were allowed in, and arrived at 7 a.m. Vanloads of tourists arrived at the same time. Visibility was terrible and there were few fish.

I watched lots of people walk along the coral. The lifeguard said, “These vans of tourists aren’t made to watch the video, so they don’t know anything about the coral. And we can’t make announcements or blow our whistles every 30 seconds to get them off it.”

I asked people to get off the coral. A few complied, but the rest said, “It’s all dead anyway.” I collected my friends and left in tears.

Please make everyone watch the video. Please assure them they will be ejected if they stand on the coral. Please raise the price and cap the number of people allowed in each day. Please keep it closed as long as possible. This will be our last chance to save it.

Celeste Barrett Rubanick

Kaneohe

Stopping at Chinatown makes sense for rail

Having read the commentary by Nancy Peacock and Janet Thebaud Gillmar, both honored, respected and talented Honolulu architects, I am impressed and wonder why this real possibility has never been addressed by our rail proponents (“End rail line just before Chinatown,” Star-Advertiser, Island Voices, Sept. 13). Let’s make it happen.

This just makes so much sense it boggles my mind why it can’t be a reality.

Stopping at Middle Street is too far from our downtown hub, and going past Chinatown is destructive, costly, environmentally corrupt and makes no sense.

Our exemplary bus system married to the rail stopping at Chinatown is a perfect match; Honolulu needs to seriously consider this brilliant proposal.

Mary J. Culvyhouse

Kaneohe

Americans must accept results of Nov. 3 election

The election is near and people will vote for their candidate. Whoever wins, however you feel about Donald Trump or Joe Biden, the result must be accepted for the sake of the nation.

The election cannot drag on for weeks or months without chaos being the result.

Trump supporters and Biden supporters need to understand that if we allow the election results to fall into the hands of political operatives, government bureaucrats and hired-gun lawyers, our constitutional republic will be thrown into crisis levels the likes we have not seen in our history.

The stage is being set. Trump supporters say Biden is a socialist/communist pawn and Biden supporters say that if Trump is re-elected, the country will suffer more riots, death and destruction.

None of this will happen whether Trump or Biden wins. The republic will go on, so citizens need to accept the results, no matter what they are, for the sake of our nation.

David Biacan

Wahiawa

Electoral College makes elections unfair, unequal

The front pages of most newspapers were adorned with national election polls that show the Democratic presidential candidate, Joe Biden, leading President Donald Trump by an average of 7%. But because the president is elected based on electoral votes rather than on popular votes, national polls are meaningless.

Trump could be re-elected without winning the popular votes (a repeat of the 2016 election), and that’s a scary thought. The only polls that matter are those from the battleground states.

In a representative democracy based on the principle that all votes are equal, the candidate who garnered the most votes should be the winner. In America, this is not the case.

The concept of the Electoral College is a grim reminder that our democracy is not fair, not equal and not representative. Although abolishing it may not be possible for now, reforming it should be a part of our national conversation.

Rod B. Catiggay

Mililani

Republicans abandon small-government ideal

Leave it to Cal Thomas to tell us what no Washington politician will say in an election year: that the federal government is too big and spends too much money (“In Washington, there’s little interest in reducing the debt,” Star-Advertiser, Sept. 8). Our federal deficit this year is already $3 trillion, and they will say that, of course, it was necessary to spend that to combat the coronavirus.

What they won’t tell you was that the government already was facing a $1 trillion deficit before Congress passed the CARES Act. This under a Republican president who promised as a candidate in 2016 to balance the budget. Gone are the days when Republican presidents were fiscal conserva- tives like Dwight Eisenhower. President Donald Trump likes big government and big spending. This is not how to “Make America Great Again.”

Mark Saxon

Kahului

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