I want Vermont Republican politicians to know that I won't vote for them this November unless they draw a line in the sand that separates them from the current national Republican Party and President Trump.
It is not enough to talk about seeking common ground when the extremist, national Republican Party is stripping our nation of the constitutional rights, liberties, and traditions that I believe in.
Let's face reality. We now have a national Republican Party that:
• Supports Russian interference in U.S. elections.
• Weakens workers' rights to organize and have a voice in the companies they work for.
• Corrupts the Supreme Court with political appointments instead of objective appointees who might keep a balance of power between the major branches of government.
• Shames women, immigrants, people of color, disabled people, poor people, LGBTQ people, Muslims, Hispanics, and even some veterans, because the party doesn't believe in a diverse America. Instead, its members scapegoat people in a mean and hateful way, even separating immigrant children from their parents.
• Gives tax breaks, bailouts, and privileges to the rich and to powerful corporations, like oil, auto, pharmaceutical, medical, gun, banks, finance, while we regular folk struggle to pay our bills.
• Encourages corporations (especially manufacturing) to move abroad to increase profits, while many hard-working Americans can't find decent jobs and salaries.
• Supports the merger of religion with government so both can have more power by combining the “cross with the sword,” something our fore-founders shunned because they saw the devastating consequences of state religion in their world.
• Repeals environmental laws that protect people's health and denies facts of science, like the truth about global warming and the car pollutants in our air.
• Remains silent about the activities of fanatical groups like the neo-Nazis, the Ku Klux Klan, and white supremacists, who, if they have more power, will turn the United States into a bloodbath.
• Engages in an aggressive, reckless foreign policy, like the crazy threats and tariffs on our European and Canadian allies and China, and even advocates nuclear attacks, rather than first seeking diplomacy and coexistence.
• Wants a more authoritarian government where everyone must think and act like them. To achieve that power, they've shown that they'll do anything - lie, cheat, steal, and corrupt our values of law, reason, and fairness, even trying to foster distrust about the legitimacy of the media/press and the First Amendment of the Constitution. Paul Revere, Ethan Allen, and other early New England patriots must be clawing at their coffins.
These are not normal times when it's just a difference of opinion or political platforms. This is an era of fanaticism from far-right politicians and groups, and the national Republican Party.
Are there any moderate Vermont Republicans courageous enough to oppose the dangerous direction their national party is taking?
If there are, I may vote for them. If not, I won't. I know my one vote might not mean much in the big picture, but it's my voice. I hope other voters feel the same.