Ethics (Personal)

AdvertisementContinue reading the main storyOpinionSupported byContinue reading the main storylettersTrump’s Loss, the Republic’s WinReaders respond to an Op-Ed essay about the important role of “civic virtue.”Dec. 21, 2020, 3:13 p.m. ET Credit…Annie JenTo the Editor:“What Really Saved the Republic From Trump?,” by Tim Wu (Op-Ed, nytimes.com, Dec. 10), has it exactly right. Federal criminal prosecutors, military officers and state elections officials standing up for democratic norms formed a red, white and blue line separating democracy’s safety from its demise.But it was not just people in government. It also was citizens, joining together to speak and act, rallying behind the people in government who spoke truth to power. What saves the Republic — now and going forward — is a shared commitment to the democracy we love.Dennis AftergutSan FranciscoTo the Editor:Tim Wu says, rightly, that “civic virtue” upheld by civil servants, prosecutors and military personnel is proving more important than the structural safeguards of the Constitution to save us from the autocracy of President Trump.It is absolutely true that personal ethics, professionalism and morality are indispensable to maintaining our constitutional republic. But unwritten norms are effective only so long as we inculcate and cultivate them. The fact that President Trump’s autocratic words and deeds are endorsed explicitly and implicitly by so many of his supporters means that our essential norms are being badly eroded.These Republicans are teaching Americans exactly the wrong civics lesson. And sooner or later, there will be only the principles of the Constitution to fall back on.Alan Charles RaulWashingtonThe writer was an associate counsel to President Ronald Reagan and is a founding member of Checks and Balances, a group of conservative lawyers dedicated to upholding the rule of law.To the Editor:Talk about Christmas cheer! Tim Wu has delivered as stirring and elegant a piece of writing as one could wish for to lift our hearts just when we need it. Amid the horror of a pandemic run amok and the incitement of a flailing, maddened president, Professor Wu’s paean of praise to common decency is a glorious reminder of its potency. Evil, to reference Edmund Burke, has been denied its triumph; men and women have not done nothing.A toast, then, to the thousands of folks who delivered, counted and defended every single vote! Now we know what the deep state really is. It is “civic virtue.”Barney HarrisTorontoTo the Editor:The Republic has not been “saved.” President Trump has done incalculable damage to the nation and will continue to do so.He lost the 2020 election not through any written or unwritten constitutional constraints; he was hobbled by his own egotism, narcissism and incompetence. Even so, he received 74 million votes, and he would have prevailed had he pretended to be a better leader.Joe Biden won simply through Mr. Trump’s failure of autocracy. We might not be so lucky next time.Thomas W. NugentJackson Heights, QueensTo the Editor:Tim Wu credits principled election officials as one of the firewalls that saved democracy. He is right, but will that center hold?If Republican-controlled state governments are able to install more pliant election officials who will do what they are told, we may be in for real trouble in 2024.Harry FrischerNew YorkAdvertisementContinue reading the main story More