Believing the Big Lie won’t make it true

Your Sun-Times/WBEZ poll reported more than two-thirds of Illinois Republicans believe the Big Lie that Donald Trump won in 2020.

Republicans need to remember that believing something is true does not make it true. Some beliefs are not based on facts, and some people hold beliefs in spite of the facts. The mindset that allows people to believe things are true without any factual evidence also allows them to believe Trump won the 2020 presidential election.

What former Attorney General Bill Barr said about Trump — “He’s become detached from reality if he really believes this stuff” — Barr could have said about two-thirds of Illinois Republicans.

Bob Barth, Edgewater

Don’t bet on police accountability

The bringing of charges against former Chicago Police Officer Bruce Dyker is not an instance of police accountability. Rather, it is deja vu.

We’ve seen this black cat walk by before.

A straightforward incident captured on video. Months of “investigation” by the Cook County state’s attorney, where a non-police officer would have been immediately charged. Giving the officer time to resign, just before charges are filed, to keep his pension.

Las Vegas wouldn’t give odds for what comes next, it’s so predictable. Dyker’s case will be assigned to a judge who has been an assistant states attorney, he will take a bench trial, and he will be acquitted.

Maybe there will be police accountability the next time an officer breaks the law, but I wouldn’t bet on it.

Joshua Richards, attorney, South Loop

Give Biden a break

Kevin Coughlin, Evanston

Why doesn’t Joe Biden act like Abraham Lincoln did when he abolished slavery via the Emancipation Proclamation, and get rid of assault weapons, fix immigration, provide Medicare for All and get rid of the Electoral College while he’s at it?

After all, Lincoln abolished slavery all on his own, didn’t he? Not really. Neither the Emancipation Proclamation nor Juneteenth got rid of slavery. Lincoln’s executive order only applied to slaves in territory controlled by the Confederacy in late 1862, and could have been overridden by a future president via executive order.

What ended slavery was the 13th Amendment, ratified six months after Juneteenth. The Constitution is very difficult to change. It was only after the Civil War was close to being won that this amendment was even feasible. Even then, the House of Representatives met the requirement by two votes. Many of the ratifying states had been part of the Confederacy.

Let’s give Biden a break. The Democratic Party is barely in control of either chamber of Congress and can’t get many of its priorities through the Senate. Obamacare is still around only because of the filibuster.

Souring on Biden will increase the odds of his alternative occupying the White House again. Do we really want that? Let’s remember: Not even Lincoln was what Lincoln is thought to be.

Kevin Coughlin, Evanston

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