Do your homework before voting: #tellusatoday

Letters to the editor:

Please stand firm for Americans and rise above the news media coverage of the upcoming debates. We, the citizens, must decide which candidate to nominate. Please focus on the important issues, not emotional ones. Two or three minutes of explanation from each candidate outlining their plans to resolve key issues without emotional rebuttals would be helpful. The issues are pretty clear: the economy, the Islamic State, security for America, including immigration management and ensuring the intended function of our government. These issues are important to me and to most Americans.

Bob Fuller; Bella Vista, Ark.

I always thought the descriptor “moderate” had positive connotations. But welcome to the 2016 presidential primary season, in which the word has become pejorative in both parties. In popular use, the word “moderate” means keeping within reasonable limits. In politics, it has become, for many, a litmus test of whether a politician’s views are pure enough to be labeled conservative (Republicans) or progressive (Democrats).

Is the American electorate so dimwitted that we need a one-word descriptor to tell us everything we need to know about a candidate’s views? Let’s reject the one-word labels for what they are, an excuse not to do our homework. Study what the pols really stand for.

Ken Derow; Swarthmore, Pa.

POLICING THE USA: A look at race, justice, media

Comments from Facebook are edited for clarity and grammar:

The “liberal vs. conservative,” “left vs. right” framework means nothing. If you must frame everything in simplistic binary terms, then use one that’s based in reality.

How about a top-to-bottom political spectrum? This framework best illuminates the problem in American politics: Both parties have become servants of the corporate elite, the top end of the spectrum.

— Steve Hosch

Liberty must be our primary value as Americans. Liberty leads to invention, commerce, prosperity, personal responsibility, charity, fulfillment and happiness. Big Government, with mandates and prohibitions, is the enemy of liberty. Inaptly named “progressives” are agents of Big Government and must be defeated by liberty-loving folk.

— Felipe Gonzales

We asked what our followers thought about Gov. Chris Christie’s assertion that executive experience really matters. Comments from Twitter are edited for clarity and grammar:

I completely agree. It would be like hiring a CEO without management experience.

— @maubin16

Being a decision-making executive gives experience, but does it mean you can’t make a decision if you haven’t been one?

— @MichaelGMickey

He’s worried about Marco Rubio’s popularity. Other former senators became president. Christie’s out for No. 1!

— @AudreyM_Smith

President Obama had no executive experience and look what happened there. Experience in business or as a governor counts.

— @deaglepuppy

It depends on the executive. From the debates, one would think John Kasich and Christie lead the most successful states in USA.

— @RodneyCNelson

Washington is its own world. You have to understand inside to be able to change outside. That type of experience is an asset.

— @Kimmerloveswine