Safer streets would garner more cyclists

Living in the suburban sprawl of San Jose, it’s nearly impossible to get around town without a car. With the recent VTA strike affecting the lives of regular commuters, we need to consider the other alternative when traveling on wheels: biking.

Although the city has put in the effort to be more cyclist-friendly in its Better Bike Plan 2025, people still are reluctant to bike because of safety concerns. Quick builds with plastic bollards are an easy solution to putting bikes on the roads, but the lack of a physical barrier and distance between the biker and car still sets off alarm bells to any new, potential riders. Upgrading our current bike lanes to concrete curbs or metal bollard protection would help with physical safety, while installing more bike lockers in various locations would help prevent bicycle theft and encourage more people to bike.

— Catherine Vo, San Jose

Centrist GOP, Dems could save democracy

I have become increasingly dismayed at the dismantling of the rules and traditions that have been crucial to our functioning democracy for years.

The Democrats by themselves are not in a position to check Donald Trump’s trampling of the norms, but a small cohort of Democrats and Republicans could be a force for positive change. All it would take is a handful (five) of Republicans to declare themselves as independent and to caucus with whichever party was willing to be the most reasonable. To be balanced, an equal number of Democrats could do the same thing.

We have big problems to solve (e.g. climate change, the deficit, immigration, voting and democratic reforms), and a controlling group in the middle could be just the remedy we need to heal America and American democracy.

— John Holton, Los Altos

U.S. on dangerously familiar path to tyranny

Edmund Burke’s admonishment about history repeating itself has come true.

In 1924, a future leader was convicted of an attempted coup. Exactly 100 later, another leader was found guilty of a crime.

Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia because he needed “lebensraum,” or living space. Ours needs Canada.

They burned books; we ban books.

They sent “undesirables” to prison in another country; ours sends them to Central America. A new car, the Volkswagen was enthusiastically endorsed by the leader; Tesla was endorsed by ours.

In Germany, those who should have known better “bought into” the regime. Sadly in America, many buy into ours. Burke’s final word: “The greater the power, the more dangerous the abuse.”

— Nelson Tandoc, San Jose

Tariff exemptions bad news for small business

Donald Trump has given tariff exemptions to the richest companies in the world while trying to make America rich again by levying new taxes on small businesses. I own a small electronic manufacturing business, and we purchase as much from the United States as possible. We do all the manufacturing and assembly here in California; however, most of the components that go into our product are commodity items sourced from China, the only place they are made.

That is the global supply chain that was set up starting 40-50 years ago. CEOs wanted to reduce costs and transferred their production to China because of cheap labor and lax environmental laws. For this, they were lavished with huge bonuses. Now Trump is trying to make America rich again at the expense of new taxes on small business capitalists who have simply taken advantage of the global supply chain.

— David Lehrian, Royal Oaks

Tariffs fly in face of economic reality

President Trump’s tariffs are a “ruin-thy-neighbor” effort, a philosophy he thinks is wise, even brilliantly wise, but it isn’t.

God bless Trump, for he needs a blessing. He should go to an economic church and listen to the sermon. Perhaps he will learn something and will change his behavior, but do not hold your breath that he or his advisers will do this or are even capable of comprehending long-known economic concepts.

In the meantime, everyone’s economic situation will worsen, especially those of retirees and low-income families. What a crying shame.

When you add in the large number of government workers being laid off (by Elon Musk, Trump’s unelected oligarch co-president), the situation in the United States only gets worse. Especially cruel and onerous is laying off aid workers, educators, researchers and veterans.

Normal citizens, grab your life vests. The American ship is sinking.

— Larry Dorshkind, Redwood City

Column exposes threat tariffs pose

Re: “How tariffs destroy what makes America great” (Page A7, April 4).

What makes America great are columns like those by David Brooks.

Brooks starts by including the Bay Area with the most innovative places in world history. He references other writers, too, discussing places, networks and channels for ideas. He continues with the importance of America’s great universities that include foreign students. And, finally, Brooks outlines the values that make America so great — in a word: cosmopolitan … having roots in one town, but “treasuring and learning” from others.

I’ll practice what his column preaches tonight by “putting myself in an unfamiliar situation” — ballroom dancing with a Bay Area and Asian vibe.

— Jerry Sheahan, San Jose

This is not the time for GOP puff pieces

Re: “First Black woman to lead California’s GOP ready to take on Dems” (Page A1, April 6).

Writing glowing puff pieces about anyone in a leadership position of the anti-democracy, anti-Constitution Republican Party right now seems tone-deaf and inappropriate.

Let us not forget that her ultimate boss, Donald Trump, is a literal criminal and that anyone who works for him must be considered corrupt until proven otherwise. Sorry, but it’s true.

For Republicans to succeed now, small-d democracy and the rule of law must fail. This can’t be treated like “both-sides-do-it” business as usual.

— Robert Green, Cupertino

Talk of third term is absurd after 4 months

The Social Security Administration was established in 1935. Medicare began in 1965. These programs have operated for years during Democratic and Republican administrations. I find it incredible and beyond my level of comprehension that these agencies were supposedly riddled with fraud, and unelected outsider Elon Musk was the first one to discover it.

The United States is 248 years old. It took decades of action for our country to progress and build a stable democracy. Musk and Donald Trump are working hard to destroy everything in four months.

Trump states that people (so he says) are encouraging him to seek a third term. Four months of him is too much already.

— Terrele Schumake, San Jose