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I am not a political person. As far as my political philosophy is concerned, I consider myself to be a moderate; a little to the left on some issues and a little to the right on other issues. I think most people in the country are of like mind.
The Republican and Democrat parties have been taken over by extremists. Steve Adams opined in his article of Sept. 25 that the Republicans are trying to "out conservative" each other. Matt Gaetz led a successful ouster of McCarthy as Speaker of the House just because he dared to work with Democrats in getting a stop-gap measure passed to keep the government from shutting down. As of the writing of this letter I don't know who the new Speaker will be but keep in mind, that person is third in line to the presidency.
In our Legislature, a group of Republicans, including our delegate, Mr. Coop-Gonzalez, have formed an ultra-conservative group called The Freedom Caucus. They want to return this country "to the Constitution and Christian values."
As far as I am concerned, they are a bunch of reactionaries who want to strip away all the social, political and economic progress that has been made in the past 100-plus years. Leave it to them and the only people who will have any rights or status in society will be wealthy, white, Protestant men.
I see in today's Inter-Mountain that Mr. Coop-Gonzalez wants to introduce a bill to place the Ten Commandments in classrooms. Apparently he hasn't read the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution regarding the prohibition of the government establishing a particular religion. Assuming that bill ever makes it to the floor of the House and actually is passed by the House and Senate, it will never pass court muster.
While the Republicans are trying to "out-conservative" each other, the same can be said of the Democrats. The extreme leftists of the party are trying to "out-liberal" each other, with individuals such as Bernie Sanders (even though he is an independent), Kamala Harris and Diane Feinstein (rest her soul) going just as far to the left as Gaetz, DeSantis, Cruz and others are going to the right.
Our Senator Manchin tries to work the middle of the road on legislation and is taken to task by the Democrats because "he does not toe the party line." Hang in there, Joe.
The extreme factions of both parties are the reason for all the discord, animosity and downright hatred that pervades our society and the political theater, and I don't see any end to this animosity in the near future.
I am urging the Democrat and Republican parties to find individuals who are more moderate in their thinking and won't be afraid to sit down with members of the other party and create legislation to benefit the country as a whole.
I read somewhere that what this country needs are more Ronald Reagans and Tip O'Neils. They were in different parties but they weren't afraid to sit down and talk with each other and work for the good of the country. Politics is the art of compromise.
Charles Church
Valley Bend