Progressives, including President Obama, have helped make America great
Editor:
Just when I thought the political discourse of this election year could not get any more absurd, Mr. Paul Lauricalla Jr. spews utter nonsense and historically inaccurate statements (Orleans Hub, March 22, 2016).
First he blames “Liberals and Progressives” for the rise in popularity of that racist, hateful, bullying, no class sexist, Donald Trump. The fact that Fox “news” and other extremist right wing propaganda machines have dumbed down and lied to the redneck minority in this country seems to have escaped Mr. Lauricella Jr.
How many times did you hear on conservative news channels that President Obama is a Kenyan Muslim, not of this country. Some actually believe it. Those are the folks coming out for Trump and all his outrageousness.
I won’t bother rebutting this guy point for point. I have faith that most readers can see through the conservative tripe in his letter, but I will take him to task for the following: He said “Everything that is wrong with this country is directly related to liberal and progressive policy over the last 100 years”.
Since I am a student of history, I am very curious as to which policies Mr. Lauricella thinks tanked our country. Was it the creation of the National Parks System by President Teddy Roosevelt that preserved this nation’s natural beauty from commercial exploitation?
Was it the creation of the Social Security Act during the FDR years that still allows millions of retired citizens the ability of living in dignity? Was it the creation of Medicare that pays 80 percent of seniors’ medical expenses?
Was it the creation of the Food Stamp Program that subsidizes working Americans in low wage jobs so they can feed their children? How about clean water and clean air legislation that ensures that chemical companies don’t poison us in their quest for profits?
Was it the Equal Rights Legislation of the John F. Kennedy years? Was it the six times we landed on the moon and other fantastic space exploration efforts of NASA?
Informed people grow tired of conservative scapegoating and narrow-minded thinking.
In his haste to bash President Obama, Mr. Lauricella fails to mention what had brought our country to the brink of economic ruin. The tax breaks for the rich and the failed “trickle-down” economic policies of Reagan and the Bushes, further exacerbated by the two wars that W. Bush didn’t pay for.
He also failed to mention how President Obama has grown the national economy with consistent growth in private sector jobs, and Obama’s saving of the American Automotive Industry. This great land is hardly “in ruin”.
President Obama has waged an effective war against terrorism by ordering the raid that killed bin Laden and the systematic elimination of other terrorist leaders. The list is impressive.
The current reality is that the Democrats have two excellent candidates running for President, and the Republicans have zilch. Anyone can see the panic within the Republican establishment. The irony is it was the Republican Party, with their 7 years of obstructing President Obama, that has brought us to this point.
There are several Republican Congressional Representatives up for re-election and many of them will lose, thank God. And Mr. Lauricella’s reference to “Moderate (Liberal) Republicans” just shows how extreme he is. What he is saying is “everybody should believe, and act as he approves; anything else is wrong.” Fortunately, extremism is not the mainstream in the USA.
Mr. Lauricella Jr. talks glowingly about the need to follow the Constitution the way our founders intended, but fails to mention the Republican outrageous opposition to Mr. Obama’s nomination of any Supreme Court Judicial replacement of deceased Justice Scalia.
A college professor of mine 40 years ago said that in American society there exists enough people to allow a rise to power of someone of the ilk of Adolf Hitler. It was a scary thought when I heard it, and even more so now.
For Mr. Lauricalla to proclaim “no more progressives in any party. No more Democrats elected to anything” runs contrary to the political diversity that has lifted this democracy to one of the best places in the world to live.
Thanks to all for their attention.
Al Capurso
Gaines
