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To the Editor:

There was a time during my life when political opponents were respectful of one another. The one that lost congratulated the winner then the political talk stopped and a peaceful transition took place and people went back to their respectful jobs/homes. The press in those days was equally respectful and returned to the everyday news. Both sides of the political spectrum were for the general good of the country and did not continue to push agendas that divide people. If your candidate did not win you still shook hands and said see you in four years with a laugh, then continued everyday life. I have seen cases where the wife was for one candidate (party) while the husband was for the other. She would tease her husband by saying I cancelled your vote, then they both would laugh and carry on as a loving couple. I saw a similar thing occur between friends. There was no animosity.  

But over the last 30 or so years (especially after the Reagan era 1981-89) things began to take a different track (marked change). Perhaps the Hubert Humphrey 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago, Ill., was a precursor of things to come. In any event in the 1990s the educational system and the media (newspaper, TV and the internet/worldwide web) began to drift toward a socialistic philosophy of life. This slowly began to mix with Marxist (communistic) points of view.  The Marxist method of pitting the working class against the business class was expanded to pit other parts of society against each other; i.e., the new Marxism. Examples are 1. the sexual revolution which ended up pitting men and women against each other, 2. racial divisions [blacks, whites, Hispanic, Asian, etc]  3. prolife against abortion, 4. climate change/global warming caused division, 5. ethnic divisions, 6. the right of victims vs. the rights of criminals, 7. open borders (legal vs. illegal immigrants), 8. Christians/conservatives vs. liberals/progressives, 9. vaccinated vs. unvaccinated, 10. transgender and the list goes on. In many of these cases one side or the other is considered a victim of the other. This situation led to the cancel culture and the weaponizing of certain government agencies. The result was WOKism and DEI which in turn led to a lot of hatred.  

Unfortunately, a group of people with this liberal bent slowly worked themselves into control of the Democratic Party. They cleverly pushed this ideology upon the deceived members. They also pushed this into the educational system. Sadly, this situation was backed by many socialistic nations in Europe and socialistic organizations such as WEF [WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM], UN [United Nations], etc. Thankfully, the majority of Americans after experiencing four years of the Biden/Harris administration saw through the deception [distortions, half truths and lies]. They rejected the Democratic platform in favour of the Republican platform which supported government based on the constitution. 

Hopefully, the rank and file members of the Democratic Party will either change the present leadership or form a new party with the ideas/philosophy of the party of the days of Presidents Harry Truman and John F. Kennedy. This would result in a viable two-party system again where both work for the benefit of the citizens and not liberal socialistic agendas. 

For the sake of future generations we must diligently pray that Americans will take the path that will guarantee our freedoms will be maintained. If that occurs the United States will continue to be a beacon of freedom [liberty]  for the rest of the world.

Closing Comment:

My observations over the last 60 years have led me to conclude that no person in public office should harbour hatred in their heart. Justice can never be achieved if hatred is present.  Likewise advantageous political/government decisions cannot be achieved in an atmosphere where hatred is present. 

 

Ronald Winter

Elizabethton