I do not always agree with Democrats and their policies. I have voted for both Republicans and Democrats, and I am not registered with either party. Voters like me are a major voting block in California and many other states. Why do we get no respect?
Things are changing. I am suspicious of Donald Trump and the MAGA crowd. They are conducting a 50-state assault on voter rights and driving election workers out of jobs. They put loyalists in key state government positions and giving them legislative authority to change the outcome of an election they do not win at the ballot box. This is even happening in places Trump won decisively. And the Republicans who were elected are claiming the election was rigged in favor of Democrats. How stupid is that?
Republicans are threatening businesses who mandate vaccinations or COVID-19 testing as a condition for employment. What happened to the party that championed business?
Law and order was a big part of the Republican mantra. Now they are saying that the Jan. 6 insurrection was a friendly gathering of well-wishers for the Congress members who fled for their lives.
Trump is saying that if Republicans are not behind him, none should vote in the 2022 or 2024 elections. There goes the benefit of the voter suppression laws.
Congressional Republicans are vowing to start a recession if the Democrats do not pass a debt limit increase to pay for spending that both parties approved. This includes a whopper of a revenue shortfall caused by the Trump tax cuts of 2017. Wonder how massive job losses, world economic disaster, and credit market crashes will go over with voters. Now I see why Trump says not to vote for Republicans.
We have a pandemic that is mostly caused by those who refuse to be vaccinated. I have an 85-year-old friend who confessed that he would not be vaccinated as a “personal preference.” He is a strong devotee to Fox News. He gets the rest of his medical counsel from the internet. His daughter got COVID-19 and is out of work because she is a long-hauler. We will not be going out to breakfast anytime soon. Not because I am fearful of getting COVID-19 from him, but he could get it in a restaurant when not wearing a mask. I would not want to be connected with his death.
I will not be voting for any more Republicans unless someone puts a gun to my head. But when I get to the Pearly Gates, and God asks why I voted for Republicans, I will say the devil made me do it. And I went to confession.
Thomas Oatway
Valencia
