Legit government
Should the descendants of King Kamehameha regain the throne of Hawaii, would the representatives of that government on Maui and Oahu be guilty of war crimes for supporting the government that overthrew those kingdoms? And let us remember that King Kamehameha came to power by illegally overthrowing the ruling king of Hawaii.
Should all members of the U.S. Congress worry about being prosecuted for war crimes because of the illegal overthrow of British rule in North America in 1776?
How about the government of Mexico, which is about the fourth illegal successor to the Aztec Empire?
Face it: Every government on Earth came into existence by overthrowing a previous regime. By (County Council member) Jen Ruggles’ reasoning, there is no such thing in the world as a legitimate government.
So, how do governments become legitimate?
By representing the desires of the citizens.
In 1958, there was a plebiscite in Hawaii on statehood. It passed overwhelmingly, and the vote was about as strong among Native Hawaiians as it was among those who arrived later. That was de facto acceptance of the overthrow of Queen Lili‘uokalani.
Hawaiians, of all races, voted to become a state under the government in Washington, D.C. That makes the current government structure legitimate by all reasonable standards.
Dan Lindsay
Hilo
Ford’s story
On Ms. Barbara Ferraro’s “Sexism encouraged” letter (Your Views, Oct. 5), I come to different conclusions from experience.
Mrs. Christine Blasey Ford passed a lie detector test regarding her story. If she didn’t remember where or exact date of when it happened, I don’t remember dates of when I partied hardy in high school. I remembered incidents at houses I was familiar with, but if we went to parties in the town a couple of miles away, where plenty of drinking high school kids who attended other local high schools were partying, I don’t remember their names or where the houses were.
What I did remember in the hearing was that Judge Brett Kavanaugh tried to paint his own memory as quite clear. If he was drinking in the fashion his own classmates in high school and college testified, his mind should have been quite foggy in the recollection arena. Been there. Done that.
I wouldn’t expect Mrs. Ford to remember which house, unless it was the house of a friend, nor would I expect her to remember the date. After all, she was 15.
However, I would expect that in her recounting of the incident, she would have difficulty passing a lie detector test, which apparently she did not.
Kim Magnuson
Papaikou