We recently received an angry email from a reader who was upset by the number of letters to the editor from liberals. Based on his language, he finds that most intolerable.

Such messages aren’t that unusual. In fact, critiques about letters to the editor, political cartoons and columns have long constituted the bulk of the upset calls or threats to cancel subscriptions that the Whidbey News-Times and South Whidbey Record receive. Nearly without fail, opinions about partisan politics most wrangle people’s nerves.

For the record, we don’t pick and choose letters based on any criteria or agenda. We run the letters people send us. Letters, cartoons and columns are opinion pieces that are clearly marked as such and run on the opinion page. There are obviously letters we wouldn’t run — like if they have swear words, accuse people of committing crimes or threaten witchcraft — but nearly everything we receive is appropriate and family-friendly. An occasional letter might express ideas that many people find offensive, but we’ve found value in making a record of such opinions. Yes, people still “think like that.”

It’s true that we run a lot of letters from people criticizing actions by the Trump Administration, although it’s not just liberals who share these concerns. Historic changes are underway in America and people are worried. People who want change are most likely to write a letter or hold up a sign than those who think everything is hunky-dory.

People on both sides of the political spectrum have found bones to pick with the opinion page over the years. When Joe Biden was first in office, a political cartoon about the president’s age garnered many angry emails defending him, arguing that he was just fine. We never received any apologies. A cartoon about the assassination attempt on President Donald Trump caused a commotion because some people misunderstood the point it was trying to make. Cartoons about Gaza have sparked ire.

We welcome people to write letters. In fact, we really, really encourage it. For the love of God, write us some letters. The opinion page is pretty lively for an old-school forum during a time when most people would rather take to social media to express unfettered opinions. But still, we would love to see a wider diversity of names and opinions.

As writers of hyper-local newspapers, we always prefer to run letters written by Whidbey residents, but those from mainlanders will do in a pinch. And although the back-and-forth debates about politics may be fun, we also prefer letters about Whidbey Island issues, especially if they are related to stories we have covered. When we do have a choice of letters to run first, we’ll likely choose the ones about local issues.

After a long search, we are happy to have found a local columnist who will offer a conservative viewpoint. Allen McPheeters is the former chair of the Island County Republican Party and executive director of the nonpartisan Voters Interest Project. We hope to publish a column from him soon.

Political cartoons, on the other hand, focus on national and international news by necessity. We subscribe to Cagle Cartoons, which offers a selection of political cartoons from across the country and around the world. It’s supposed to be a conservative-focused service, but Trump still reigns supreme as a target. We strive to offer a balance of cartoons on both sides of the political divide but also to choose cartoons that are most relevant to what’s happening in the world. Sometimes we pick toons that offer a break from politics. Some are duds.

Political cartoons are a time-honored tradition in American history and can be quite powerful, helping to spark change or even revolution. Benjamin Franklin’s “Join, or Die,” the famous drawing of a snake cut into pieces, is considered to be the first American political cartoon. Artists of political cartoons strive to distill complex issues into a single image in an effort to persuade and promote public discourse, often with irony and humor. They embrace controversy. If a cartoon gets people talking — even if it’s to complain — they’ve done their job.

Creating a meaningful cartoon, or even one that can be easily understood, is not an easy task. We welcome anyone who wants to take a shot at drawing a cartoon related to a Whidbey Island news story to send it to us for possible publications.

Letters, cartoons, story ideas and bad jokes can be emailed to editor@whidbeynewsgroup.com.