Letters to the Editor: ‘Geezers’ will help defeat Trump too. Insulting them is counterproductive
To the editor: Columnist Virginia Heffernan’s rant against one whole part of the electorate, old white guys like me, rips a page out of President Trump’s playbook of divide and conquer. In a time when we need to bridge our differences, this hurts rather than helps our cause.
As a lifelong liberal Democrat who looks forward to building a coalition around any candidate who can beat Trump and restore dignity and sanity to our bruised democracy, I’m thrilled to see people who don’t look like me join my party and swell its ranks to carry the torch into the future.
Ms. Heffernan, young people and old geezers are on the same side.
Steven Fernandez, Los Angeles
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To the editor: Indeed, Democratic presidential candidates Joe Biden, Michael Bloomberg and Sen. Bernie Sanders grew up in a very different era from that in which we are now living.
However, the problem is not the age of these men, it is their failure to keep listening, especially to the generation of rising young adults.
Surrounded by like-minded people and highly successful in their middle-age years, they have little motivation or opportunity to change. As we age, moving out of our group and listening to and understanding the younger generation takes increasing effort.
Thus, it is not age that is the problem with “geezers,” it is perhaps their former success, their egos and their failure to be vulnerable and learn.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren is not much younger than the geezers, but she is a model of how to stay in touch.
Rachel Levin, Upland
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To the editor: Heffernan makes a strange statement about the “crotchety geezer” Democratic candidates: “The mothers of these men came of age without the vote.”
I’m a month younger than Bloomberg. My mother was born in 1919. Full suffrage for women was embodied in the Constitution in 1920. Unless the mother of any of these candidates was born in the 1890s, Heffernan’s comment seems improbable.
Geezers we may be, but at least some of us can still remember history and do simple arithmetic.
Jan Libourel, Long Beach
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To the editor: As a woman nearing 80, I am not the least bit mystified by “reparations, identity politics, trans rights and #MeToo,” and neither are my peers.
Hefferman’s column was condescending and insulting.
Sing Baker, Carlsbad
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