Tea Party America?
If nothing else, David Brat's totally unexpected primary victory over Eric Cantor in Virginia demonstrates that our ballot really does make a difference ("Immigration issues defeated Eric Cantor," June 15). This surprising result should also make it crystal clear that there is a very real chance of a future America being run by Tea Partiers — if complacent, mainstream Republicans and Democrats simply don't bother to vote.
Alan Meyer
Newberg
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E-vehicle Parking
On June 5, my wife and I attended our nephew's graduation ceremony at Veterans Memorial Coliseum. We have an electric car and the parking structure has several charging stations. When we arrived, there was ample parking throughout the structure but all of the electric charging spots were filled. The vehicles parked in the charging stations were not electric cars; they were all SUVs. One person was getting out of his SUV and I requested he move to one of the nearby parking spots available for normal cars. He insulted me and walked away.
Why do drivers have such animosity towards electric cars? Is there some pathology that means drivers want to keep oil prices as high as possible by having as much consumption as possible? Oil is a finite resource and the current escalating violence in Iraq is about to raise the price of gas far higher than it is now. I'd understand if there were no other spots but there were plenty. You don't see electric cars parking in the stalls at gas stations to block other cars from filling up.
Lowell Wetzel
Salem