published: Wednesday, November 28, 2012

First and foremost, we are Americans

Editor:

As a former high-level Republican official in a northern state during the late 1970s and early 1980s, I am embarrassed, saddened and appalled by what I perceive to be the party's current negative transformation.

I was proud to be a loyal member of the GOP, which at that time was a party of inclusion, tolerance, positive social and economic progress and outreach. Sadly, those values have been replaced in many quarters by exclusion, intolerance, retrogressive social and economic policies, and a "circle the wagons" organizational dynamic.

Thanks to the results of the 2012 elections, our nation has been spared the catastrophic consequences that would have resulted from a different electoral count, leading to the United States government in January 2013 becoming a wholly-owned subsidiary of the multibillionaire industrial and financial fraternity.

The election also had the positive result of preventing a headlong rush to a plutocracy and the danger of a return to a 19th century society consisting of but two classes: baronial and peasant.

Sadly, much of the GOP is currently ruled by an amalgam of religious radicals and ultra right-wing theocratic fanatics, overladen with an unstated but transparent veneer of racial intolerance.

The radical circles of the GOP are reeling now, given their self assurances that the Supreme Court's infamous Citizens United decision would open the flood gates of contributions from billionaire industrialists, casino magnates, hedge fund managers, and their ilk, thus guaranteeing their candidates success.

Another negative element in the GOP's play book is the persistence of the radical right wing media with their pernicious, destructive, and seditious modus operandi of trumpeting half-truths, factual distortion and denials along with outright deliberate prevarication.

It is revealing to read so much of their daily airwaves propaganda regurgitated in letters to the newspaper editors. Proof that P.T. Barnum was right and Josef Goebbels' edict that if a lie is told forcefully enough and often enough, there will be a segment of the population who believe it.

As a former ardent Republican and current Independent, I can only hope that our political system can soon evolve to replace the mutual hatred, name calling, and divisiveness with mutual respect, cooperation, and policies that benefit us all in this great nation of ours.

A vivid and encouraging illustration of that ideal was the meeting and partnership between the President and New Jersey's governor during the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.

As Republicans, Democrats, and Independents alike, we should constantly remind ourselves that first and foremost we are all Americans and that political radicalism by either party achieves nothing but a set of negative values and acts inimical to our collective best interests.

Gerry Garnich

Sebring