June 23: The GOP, a.k.a the Trump Party. Plus other letters to the editor

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Letters to the Editor should be exclusive to The Globe and Mail. Include your name, address and daytime phone number. Try to keep letters to fewer than 150 words. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. To submit a letter by e-mail, click here: letters@globeandmail.com

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Dropping Hardie wines

Re Quebec, Ontario Liquor Stores Drop Hardie Wines (June 22): The bodies that govern liquor sales in Ontario and Quebec are Crown corporations, creatures of government. As such, they should be called to a higher standard than private restaurant owners or associations when they set out to punish. What moral authority do they have to take such actions against a citizen?

I find the behaviour which Norman Hardie is accused of reprehensible. But that is not the issue here. The issue is the standard of proof a creature of the state must have before it acts in that capacity against a private individual.

Marilyn Johnson, Calgary

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The boss of Hardie wines is accused of inappropriate sexual conduct. With no legal review, the Ontario LCBO and Quebec liquor board (SAQ) arbitrarily stop selling Hardie wines. Who is being punished here? Norman Hardie or all the Hardie wine workers who face losing their jobs due to lack of sales?

Les Harris, Toronto

The GOP, a.k.a. the Trump Party

With all the defections from what has become the cult party of Donald Trump (formerly the Republican Party), there must surely be enough experienced, moderate, sensible, centrist Republicans to start a new, third party.

It never ceases to amaze me that Americans seem to assume there is only room for two mainstream parties in the U.S. Other countries, including Canada, have long had several major parties vying for the right to lead their countries. Even with America’s arcane electoral system, a third party makes all sorts of sense. Beyond anything else, its presence would, almost by definition, moderate America’s political polarization and lead to more compromise.

So if the former GOP has been hijacked by a bunch of religious extremists, Tea Partiers and would-be dictators, then GOP outcasts, rather than walking away in a sulk, should take steps to make amends. I even have a name for them: the Progressive Conservative Party. It has a nice ring to it.

Nelson Smith, Toronto

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The Trump phenomenon has been gestating for decades, thanks to deeply cynical choices tossed to the GOP “base” by insiders like Steve Schmidt, who brought Sarah Palin in as John McCain’s running mate in 2008 (The Warning We Must Hear, From A Former Republican Loyalist – June 22). Mr. Schmidt can’t escape the hypocrisy underlying his resignation from the Republican Party. He shares ownership in the Trump calumny.

James G. Heller, Toronto

(Lost) wars on drugs

Re The Relentless Toll Of Opioids (editorial, June 20): Yes, the human suffering that illegal drugs wreak on our society is heartbreaking and tragic. Yes, we need to employ every means to try to solve what seems at times to be an intractable problem.

But seriously, advocating “making criminals pay a higher cost for trading in illegal opioids” or “the deaths will keep coming”? Haven’t I heard this somewhere before? If I didn’t know better, I would think that The Globe and Mail is proposing that we declare war on fentanyl? Because we have all just suddenly forgotten how well all of the other wars on drugs have worked out so far? Kind of ironic, considering that we just legalized marijuana – at least in some small part because the war on that drug didn’t work either.

Don Ferguson, Kamloops, B.C.

On the Money’s loss

Re CBC Cancels On The Money, Cites Lack Of Funds (June 21): On the Money deals with many of our most pressing issues from a business perspective, providing intelligent and entertaining analysis.

Does CBC need the money to pay for the four anchors on The National? On the Money does better with only one, very talented anchor. Does the CBC understand Value for Money?

Ken Sutton, Toronto

Men who give shelter

Re Why Women’s Shelters Need Men’s Support (June 14): In 1979, Vancouver Rape Relief approached some men they knew and asked them to help raise funds to buy a house that could be used to shelter women escaping male violence. In two years, we raised the down payment. In the intervening years, the mortgage has been retired.

When the CEO of Sleep Country Canada says there are “zero charities” in this sector funded by men, he overlooks our nearly 40 years of effort in this area.

I’m in my 36th year with the group and have helped raise more than $4-million in that time. This is nowhere near enough to completely fund the organization’s work, but it does provide a significant cushion. I urge all men in the Vancouver area who want to do something about violence against women to contact Vancouver Rape Relief and Women’s Shelter.

We ask for three behaviours from men: Contribute at least two hours pay per month to a women’s shelter, practise consent in all dealings with women, encourage other men to adopt these behaviours. We believe that if we can get a critical mass of more than 1 per cent of men in our territory to adopt these behaviours, we will have made a significant contribution toward ending male violence against women in our area.

The Strengthening Ties initiative has set its sights way too low. It’s going to take a lot more than 50 men to change the attitudes of men in Canada.

Brian Cross, Vancouver

Clue: e (13)

Re A Nine-Letter Word For Happiness (First Person, June 21): I wonder if cryptic crossword aficionado Sheila Rosenberg has ever come across this particularly obscure clue. It is e (13). The answer is “senselessness.” One takes the word “ness” from the word “sense” and is left with the letter “e”– sense less ness.

Christopher Kelk, Toronto

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OMG, it was like I’d written this article myself. Sheila Rosenberg summed up us crossword fanatics beautifully. First thing, for at least the past 40 years, I settle myself at the kitchen table with fresh coffee and my Globe and Mail. In order not to take any other pages away from my husband, I tear out the page with the crossword (and, I hope, the First Person article). On the weekends, we even get your competitor’s publication, as well as yours, and I do all the word puzzles. (What is wrong with me? Maybe I need rehab!)

Just like Ms. Rosenberg, I don’t think there’s any point to doing crosswords if you don’t seek elucidation as part of tackling the answers. So, yes, on my iPad, I look up the thesaurus and dictionaries. If those fail, Google. But I have to say, I could not find anywhere a four-letter word that starts with “g” and means “rumbo.”

I tip my hat to Ms. Rosenberg for being able to do the New York Times crossword (it’s difficult!) and for writing such a great article. And thank you to The Globe for First Person articles – and especially for the daily crossword.

Marie H. Medoro, Mississauga