Letters to the Editor

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Dear Residents,

Come on home to the Democratic Party. There comes a time when change must happen for the common good. That time is now. We must all put our Constitution and country first. So, come on home to the Democratic Party.

My Republican friends and Democratic friends are more alike, than different. They are fiercely loyal and patriotic. My Republican friends are trying to stay the Trump course…but they aren’t happy. It’s obvious. So I say to them, “Come home to the party of your parents and grandparents-the party that helped America rise out of the Great Depression-the party that created Social Security and Medicare to protect our elderly. Come home to the party that stands with the working man-the party that pushed for and passed the first minimum wage law, time-and-a-half for overtime pay, and ended child labor. Come on home to the Democratic Party.”

We are your neighbors and your friends. We worship beside you in church. We stand proudly beside you as we recite the Pledge of Allegiance together. We cheer for your children when they play ball, just as you cheer for ours.

So come on home. Visit txdemocrats.org to find out more about the Texas Democratic Party. There you will also find the contact information for our new Erath County Democratic chair. Come on home.

We are all Americans first, and it’s time for you to come on home to the Democratic Party. We welcome you all. Let’s work together for the betterment of our country. Come on home.

Thank you,

Sharla Riddle

Stephenville

7 Comments

  1. Sharla Riddle: Your letter was well written and you stated your opinion very well. Unfortunately the Democratic Party is not the same party our parents were members of. The Democratic Party has turned into a Socialist. One World Globalist party led by Obama, Hillary, Nancy Palosi. Loretta Lynch, Harry Reid, and George Soros. Obama did everything he could to turn America into a third world country. He doubled the National Debt, Appointed his Muslim Cronies to high positions in our Government, Opened the borders for thousands of Terrorists to come into our Country, and I could go on and on, but everything he did was to weaken America. As for Hillary, you know what all she has done. And our only hope is to clear out the corruption in our Government. but the Liberals are determined to block everything that might strengthen our Country. Just remember, the Democratic Party is not the same party our parents belonged to. It is a shame they have been taken over by the left-wing Liberals who are led by Socialist and people who hate America.

    • Sorry but what you’re saying here is not correct. Come talk with us and we will help you see the facts, not the fake spin.

    • Great response, Kay. I asked a local former prominent Democrat why she had left the Democratic Party and become a Republican. She said, “I didn’t leave the Democratic Party. They left me.”

    • “He doubled the National Debt…”

      Our current debt problem originated with Ronald Reagan due to his voodoo economics. Which is the belief that you can cut taxes and the government will magically earn more revenue. Try lowering your income and see if you end up with more money.

      Although Reagan started the problem no President or Congress has fixed it since, and it has only gotten worse. This is a bipartisan problem because we have had both Republican and Democratic Presidents and Congresses since the 1980s, and the debt has done nothing but go up (except in the late 1990s when we had surpluses under President Clinton). BTW, Presidents can’t spend any money without Congressional approval, and Republicans controlled the House of Representative for 6 of President Obama’s 8 years in office. https://www.thebalance.com/us-debt-by-president-by-dollar-and-percent-3306296 if you want to learn how each President had dealt with the debt.

      Trump’s proposed budget will only add to the debt. While it contains plenty of cruel cuts to programs that benefit the poor (meals on wheels for example) it also has enormous increases in the military budget that far offset any money saved from those cuts.

      “Appointed his Muslim Cronies to high positions in our Government”

      Who’s the highest ranking Muslim that Obama appointed to office in government? I certainly don’t know. Not one of his cabinet appointments was a Muslim. And guess what? It wouldn’t matter if he did. Article IV of the US Constitution says “…no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.” That means your religion is not a factor in whether or not you can serve in the government. Also, the 1st amendment to the Constitution says “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…” So, people are free to practice the religion of their choice, even if you happen to not like that religion. You can read the Constitution here: http://constitutionus.com/.

      If you prefer that a President require appointees have a certain religion, then you want a President who does not follow the Constitution created by this country’s Founding Fathers.

      “Opened the borders for thousands of Terrorists to come into our Country”

      That is absolutely false. In fact President Obama’s administration deported more illegal immigrants than any other US President before him. Read more here. http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/obamas-deportation-policy-numbers/story?id=41715661.

      Maybe you’re talking about Obama’s support for allowing Syrian refugees in the country. Refugees have to go through an extremely long and complicated screening process before entering the country. You can read more about it here: https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/blog/2015/11/20/infographic-screening-process-refugee-entry-united-states.

      Since the founding of this country we have always been a refuge for people seeking a better life for themselves, and I hope we always remain so. It will be a bad day for America when immigrants no longer want to come to our shores.

      Obama and Hillary no longer hold any office, and the Democratic Party doesn’t control any branch of government on the Federal or Texas level. So, it’s time to stop blaming people who are no longer running government, and it is time to hold the current office holders accountable to the people.

      Democrats and Republicans both love this country. We just disagree on what polices are best for the nation, and that’s the way it should be in a democracy. Let’s stop demonizing people just because they disagree with us.

  2. Interesting criticisms of Ms. Riddle’s op-ed letter today. Those writers seem to agree that the Democratic Party of FDR was a good thing…that if the Democratic Party of today was more similar to the 1940’s version, they’d still be members.
    So let’s just take a look at what the Republican Right had to say about the Dems in that era. Regarding the New Deal and the subsequent Truman presidency Conservative historian George H. Nash (the acknowledged leading academic of Republican Conservatism of the latter 20th Century) writes, “… the Republican Right at heart was counterrevolutionary. Anti-collectivist, anti-Communist, anti-New Deal, passionately committed to limited government, free market economics, and congressional (as opposed to executive) prerogatives, the G.O.P. conservatives were obliged from the start to wage a constant two-front war: against liberal Democrats from without and “me-too” Republicans from within.”
    Apparently the idea of RINOS go waaaay back. In fact, for over 100 years the Republican Right has never wavered from their message. If people are poor, it’s their own fault. If people are sick, it’s their own fault (see remarks 2 weeks ago by United States Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala.). Heck, they are still incensed by the Pure Food and Drug Act, passed in 1906, that created the FDA!
    So that old saw of Reagan’s; that the “…Party left him…” is just as untrue now as it was when he coined it in the 1980’s. What has left the Party are those individuals that have lost their sense of what it means to be a citizen and their understanding that Americans are all in this together; that we either succeed or fail together. They abandoned the Democratic Party principles and bought into the party of the rich.

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