Letter: What really divides us

Published 9:22 am Monday, May 2, 2022

Because we are both Americans I use to think we shared common values that ran deeper than our Republican and Democrat party affiliation.

Although I am a Democrat, I have voted Republican over the years when I thought the Republican candidate was the better choice.

However, having listened to you over the last few years, I realized that our core values are very different; and I dislike what the Republican Party has become!

I dislike you because you listened to and cheered for a man, that mocked a disabled reporter in a crowd and then made racists and sexist comments.

I dislike you because you continued to cheer for that same man and thought he should be our president after he advocated registering religious minorities, called the press the enemy of the people and encouraged violence against reporters and his political opponents.

I dislike you because you refuse to accept provable facts when they don’t conform to your perception of reality.

I dislike you because you repeat the lies of a would-be autocrat.

And finally, I dislike you because of your tacit approval of the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection that was encouraged by the former president.

No, it’s not the fact that your are a Republican and I a Democrat that now divides us. What divides us is this: you either never learned or have forgotten the core principles upon which our country was founded on. And when our democracy was at risk, you sided with a bully.

FREDERICK LEHR

Grays River