Would JFK or FDR recognize today's party?

To the editor:

Years ago, because I was raised by a staunch Democrat, I had leanings toward that party.

My extended family was comprised of uncles and aunts who, like my mom and grandparents, viewed themselves as victims of the rich.

They spoke constantly about never getting a fair chance or an even break and the system being stacked against them.

I bought into it as a teen for a while, but these some people ended up pushing me to recognize that their values and sense of victimization were not my own. They made excuses instead of headway and usually it was due to their own poor decisions that the “breaks” went against them.

I found that conservatives and Republicans were much more the party of achievers, of independent thinkers and doers, of people who would not let obstacles block their paths.

Today’s Democrat Party is even less the party of old than the one that existed when I was a kid. It has become something most JFK and Roosevelt Democrats would not recognize.

Those men were not pro-abortion. Quite the contrary. They rejected it.

They were not anti-wealthy. They were, themselves, unapologetically wealthy men.

JFK even lowered tax rates on the wealthy, as did Reagan, so it would free them up to invest and expand and hire and reward. It worked.

It is what Romney wants to do and is one of the reasons the Columbus Dispatch endorsed him.

They (JFK and FDR) would have scoffed at the idea of marriage being anything other than a union between a man and woman. They would have called the fact that 47 million people are on food stamps and that people could go years on “unemployment” an abomination. And it is.

The fact that the Democrats took God’s name out of their platform this year and had to backtrack to put it back in after it had become known publicly, tells you where God now stands relative to the Democrats and their official posture.

They are no longer satisfied with a separation of church and state. They want a separation of church and our culture...our society.

Most of the good and especially older Democrats out there really should take a look at the platforms of the two parties. They will have to admit, if they are honest with themselves, that they are no longer dDemocrats in what they believe; but are, in fact, Republicans who are voting Democrat out of habit.

It's time to change a bad habit, friends. I did, years ago. You can too. And maybe just in time to save our Republic.

Sincerely,
Dave Gustin
Leesburg