Thread: I was published in today's letters to the editor

Demos bowing to border groups
Re: the Sept. 25 guest opinion "Demos losing poor Hispanic voters who want effective border security."
Bravo to the opinion by John Kromko. Was I impressed.
I've always thought of him as the dirty trickster, trying to undermine party against party, but his editorial hit the problems with the Democrats on the head.
Yes, so many of today's Democrats are hypocrites, and they love to call everyone who doesn't support their extreme views racists and bigots. It was this extreme left-wing attitude that finally had me switching from being a lifelong Democrat registration to independent this summer.
Believe me, I don't feel good about voting for Republican candidates, but when I have to live with the likes of Raúl Grijalva and Isabel Garcia running Pima County politics, I had to run as far away in the other direction as possible.
mapwife
Tucson

This was in response to this guest editorial:

Published: 09.25.2006

Demos losing poor Hispanic voters who want effective border security
In 2004, Arizona voters passed Proposition 200, which cut some social services for illegal aliens. While impacts of this proposition have been frequently debated, one profound aspect has been ignored: the poorer a voter was, the more they supported Prop. 200, regardless of ethnicity.
In heavily Hispanic precincts, about 40 percent to 45 percent of voters voted for Prop. 200, about the same percentage that voted for Bush.
If you're wealthy, an alien probably won't take your job or health-clinic seat. You may even be happy that aliens are paid lower wages at your business. But if you're poor and can't get a construction job or a seat at the clinic, you know why.
Democrats have driven a wedge through their own ranks by alienating poor and middle-class voters of all ethnicities who used to be solid Democrats. Many of these disenfranchised voters turned to the Republicans in the hope that they would enforce immigration laws.
Ironically, Republican politicians talk tough on immigration to pacify their constituents. But they'll never actually do anything because the plutocrats who finance Republican campaigns want Third World competition with American workers. What a joke to see Republican politicians touring the border after having been in power for years and doing nothing.
Even more of a joke is watching Democratic do-gooders unthinkingly working for those same plutocrats. Democrats who would never work to ship jobs to the Third World are doing much worse. Why are Democrats committing suicide with traditional Democratic voters for the sake of people who probably wouldn't vote strongly Democratic if they could vote?
At the core of the Democratic Party are people who really, really believe in fairness and justice for minorities, women, Native Americans and everyone. I agree with them. In 1962, I used my college summer vacation to go on a civil rights freedom ride. I have marched with farmworkers and was a leader in the struggle for the Equal Rights Amendment.
These experiences truly enriched me. But they later caused me to make the error of confusing situations where people were denied what was rightfully theirs and people who were denied what was not rightfully theirs. Many people have made the same mistake.
Two years ago, I needed a medical procedure that would cost $14,000. Desperately, I considered going to Canada and using their national health plan.
Why can people see that it's legally and morally wrong for me to cheat Canadian taxpayers but feel that it's perfectly fine for Mexicans to cheat American taxpayers? Neither Mexico nor Canada gives free service to illegal residents.
Will Democratic candidates seize this moment in history and stand up for the people they used to represent, plus millions of disenfranchised voters? Will Democrats have the courage to merely enforce existing law by saying, "We promise to secure our borders and to aggressively prosecute businesses that hire illegal aliens"? Republicans can't say that because their base won't allow it.
Or is our democracy truly a sham contest between Democratic corporate shills and Republican corporate shills?
Write John Kromko, a Democrat, at jkromko@dakotacom.net.
http://www.azstarnet.com/allheadlines/147971.php

Good stuff.

Excellent mapwife! I too thought this opinion piece was really good.

Way to go! A lot of people read those letters!

W

Way to go mapwife!!

Outstanding!!

Keep up the great work.

You're on a ROLL, MAPWIFE!



Thanx for sharing.......it's so motivating

Would you like to step in and run for Foleys seat? You got my vote!

Congratulations for being published.
As for free healthcare in Canada. It is not really free as the taxation rate is much higher and you have provincial and federal sales tax which in Ontario is 15%. Plus you have major waiting lists for surgery. I found living here I pay less for a healthcare plan through work than I paid in the additional taxes in Canada plus when I had to go to a specialist I got an appointment in the day or two as opposed to a 3 to 5 month waiting period in Ontario.
The wealthy people who need surgery come to the United States and pay for their care here. In fact the former mayor of Toronto actually went to the Mayo Clinic for treatment.

Great letter!

I failed to mention that my letter inspired my Husband to write one as well and his was published in Saturday's paper.:

Dems, GOP moved offshore
Re: the Sept. 25 guest opinion "Demos losing poor Hispanic voters who want effective border security."
As a lifelong Democrat and a Tucson resident for 20 years, I never thought that I would agree with John Kromko on anything, but his guest opinion hit it right on the button.
The Democratic Party has left its heart and moved offshore like the Republican Party. Both are trying to offshore our electoral process. It's time for Democrats and Republicans who feel that our country is being sold out to wish for the Bull Moose or Whig Party to return.
Mapsmith
Business owner, Tucson