Letters

I am flabbergasted, although no longer surprised, by the steady stream of vitriol and indignation directed by some local Democrats toward other local Democrats. Yes, Jose Reyes, Stephen Ring and Barbara Ring, that includes you.

Your unrelenting attacks on candidates and well-meaning neighbors who volunteer their time on the Southampton Democratic Committee are unnecessarily hyperbolic. Why are you so angry and bitter?

John Leonard, your latest target, is a good man. He’s not perfect — none of us is — but his desire to serve this community is commendable, genuine and productive. It is not productive to sit on the sidelines penning hateful and possibly libelous rants about candidates like John.

Why not offer to serve the community yourself or help identify and recruit candidates if you think you know better? It is much easier to criticize than to serve. It is also cowardly to denigrate residents who courageously step up and offer themselves for public service and scrutiny in this era of divisiveness and uncivil discourse. Questioning a candidate’s record is fair game. Impugning his character through insinuations and smears is not.

Robert Hubbell offers great advice to those who are suffering from emotional overload in these scary times: “Let’s be strategic in how we allocate our strong emotions ... Blame the cause of the problem, not the people who are trying to remediate the problem.”

Mr. Reyes and the Rings, why not find a more productive outlet for your unbridled rage? I suggest you look at what is happening in this country right now: the attacks on women’s and LGBTQ rights; the repeal of important climate, health and infrastructure initiatives; the mass deportations of hard-working immigrants who are not violent criminals (like our ancestors who emigrated here, as well as our valued immigrant neighbors); the pardons of violent January 6th insurrectionists who attacked our legislators and police to stop the peaceful transfer of power; the unconstitutional and corrupt power grabs by the Trump administration that threaten the very foundations of our constitutional democracy; and the rise of racism, hate, antisemetism, white supremacy and neo-Nazism, to name a few.

There are plenty of things that warrant our outrage and condemnation. And if you want to stay local, why not focus your concerns on the threats to our clean water, the traffic problems and the shortage of affordable housing, rather than attack the people who are trying to find solutions?

Alternatively, you might consider calming your nerves by taking up a more relaxing hobby than bombarding the public with nasty and exaggerated public diatribes. Perhaps gardening or painting would offer you a more pleasing lens through which to view the world?

Andrea Klausner

Vice Chair

Southampton Democratic Committee