Letters must be signed and include your full address and phone number for verification; only name and town are printed. Submissions may be edited for content and length. The deadline is 1 p.m. Monday. Send to news@lakeoconeenews.us
When I lived in NY there was a clothing chain whose sales motto was An Educated Consumer is our Best Customer... Similarly, one can apply that thought to how we determine the best candidate with the best ideas/ policies for the jobs they’re seeking. A person who does their research on candidate education and experience, reviews party platforms, and takes into account an individual candidate’s character will typically make a well-informed decision often not based solely on party affiliation.
A recent letter published in the September 11th edition of the LON implied the exact opposite of what I describe above... The talking points listed really don’t line up with someone being informed about what one party favors versus the letter writer’s preferred party, with many inaccuracies. The comments about Open Borders and importing Democrat voters is pure fantasy and red-meat talking points to the MAGA faithful, as is the comments about trans issues and the soft on crime comments. Frankly, an educated, well-informed person would know the trans issue is pure BS, and there are more crimes being committed by the untrained personnel allegedly chasing down candidates for deportation than the worst of the worst they promised would be the actual targets of the ICE operations. Instead, it’s become dangerous to be a person of any color (other than white), and almost just as dangerous to exercise your 1st Amendment rights or come to someone’s aid who’s being assaulted by ICE.
Then of course you have the matter of military spending and tax increases (gasp). Hmmm, we have an unauthorized unnecessary war with Iran at the behest of Israel costing hundreds of billions of dollars, we’re murdering innocent fishermen in the Caribbean and Pacific, we’re embargoing Cuba, stealing from Venezuela, bombing and attacking countries in Africa, and gifting billions to Argentina, all while playing nice with Russia, China, and North Korea, all of whom are supporting Iran and helping to attack our Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines. Frankly, when it comes to tax increases, our concerns should be more about those who are not paying their fair share, than the majority of us who are, and the way our tax dollars are being spent on foolish escapades.
The point of course is that nothing in the aforementioned letter that are realistic concerns, to an educated/ informed voter, they’re red-meat talking points meant to inflame the minority of the GOP electorate who still buy into the vilification of anyone who doesn’t share their beliefs. Think back to when we had an honorable GOP, the party that recognized a criminal in the White House, and got rid of him, a part that cared about the budget, the debt, and the deficit, the party that held office holders accountable for moral turpitude, illegal acts, and crimes against the Constitution, about lies and grift, about favoring our enemies and alienating our allies... Think back to the good old days of collaboration and consensus building... Think Back...
Michael S. Celentano Greensboro