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More substance, less rhetoric

To the editor:

I read with interest the guest column written by Kathy Antinone that appeared in the May 14 edition (“Coalition believes in Democratic values.”) The author seemed to be asking for help from former Democrats in Jefferson County. She suggests we lost the recent elections because of complacency or apathy. I think we lost because Republicans used facts about the economy, explaining why our cities are decaying under Democratic leadership, and Republicans were playing down or downright opposing President Barack Obama’s social justice strategy. How can Democrats win back voters when all I heard during the Democratic National Convention was mostly name-calling of the opposition? I heard very little about change in Democratic policy, just the same name-calling that was going on.

I learned during seven decades not to call people names, but to guide and persuade them with facts as Republicans did in the past election. Many in the country do not want our children to use each other’s restrooms or shower together or display hostility to police or force people of faith to go against their beliefs in order to pacify those of another group.

I, for one, think religious freedom is one of the most important freedoms, along with freedom of speech. I and, obviously, many others in Jefferson and surrounding counties feel the same way. We voted Republican and probably will do so in the future.

The writer refers to several past Democratic presidents. Knowing some history, JFK and FDR did not have all that much in common, but they believed in economic freedom, although FDR did circumvent Congress with the CCC, WPA and other programs. Some were found to be illegal by the Supreme Court. I think they would not recognize the modern, progressive Democratic Party. It looks to me and many others that the party is too far to the left. It must come back to its goals of the 1960s and 1970s. The party lost many union votes because it had no message except to do away with coal and oil jobs. You can’t win with that plan of action, and Democrats did not.

The writer has it right — teach history as what made Democrats a powerful and leading party. Unfortunately, history isn’t taught in schools anymore, except in colleges by far-left professors revising and tilting history to support their political ideology. Let’s get back to the basics, debate the other side about jobs and school choice, not who must provide birth control pills and sell cakes to gays.

She states her column is a blueprint for others that will follow. Please be specific on your policies and goals in the future and not leave yourself open to criticism by only advocating rhetoric. I and many of my friends did not read anything in that column that will invite us back.

Kay Lowther

Wintersville

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