The writer who claimed the state’s populace has been brainwashed to favor Democrats by Honolulu’s only daily newspaper (“Newspaper skewed against Republicans,” Star-Advertiser, Dec. 1) not only denigrated the state’s citizens (Are we, including the letter writer, so duped?), but failed to understand the First Amendment to the nation’s Constitution.

The political cartoons appearing in the newspaper are, by definition, satire and parody.

The preeminent task of any newspaper is to serve as a watchdog against the government. No less a figure than Thomas Jefferson understood and spoke to this.

If Republican policies are genuinely preferable, then they’ll be able to compete in the marketplace of ideas. But as conservative columnist David Brooks points out, “People can’t feel good about things when they think the country is disastrously led.”

Witness what happened in the recent national elections in which the House of Representatives (The People’s House) returned to Democratic control.

If the writer can’t locate stories in the newspaper lauding the achievements of minority President Donald Trump, perhaps it’s simply because such achievements are unreal — only products of braggadocio.

Craig Stevaux

Kaneohe

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