Letter: Ineffective, in a word

To the editor:

Years ago, our family adopted a puppy from the SPCA. “Lucy” turned out to be an 80-pound mutt who was the smartest dog we ever had. In addition to responding to hand signals, she knew at least a dozen words. One of them was “squirrel!” She hated squirrels and relished her mission to chase them out of existence.

When we got a little bored and wanted some excitement in the house, one of us would yell, “squirrel!” Lucy would wake from a nap, bound over to the window, and leap up on the sill ready for the battle, while we laughed our heads off.

Republicans have learned a new word, too. Whenever they want to rile up their base to take on the hated Democrats, they yell, “woke!” Then the fight is on.

That looks pretty foolish to us. However, we are not laughing. It seems a very sad and ineffective way to elect responsible leaders and govern a country.

Arlo Gambell

Rye