We deserve better – letter to the editor

After seeing a commercial where a more reasonable Republican Senator advocated in my state for a less than stellar candidate for the Senate, Republican Congressman Ted Budd, I felt obligated to do two things. I called the Senator and left a message that his reputation matters and I would encourage him to do more homework on this candidate. Plus, his opponent is a far better candidate, Judge Cheri Beasley, who is speaking about issues that matter. As an independent and former Republican, I will be voting for Judge Beasley.

The second thing I did was send the following letter to the editor. They have diminished the number of letters they publish, so it has been several months since one of mine actually made the paper. Let’s hope this one does.

As a former Republican (and Democrat) voter, we need a viable Conservative party, but today’s vintage of the Republican Party is according to conservative pundit Michael Gerson “in decay.” To me, a party cannot vilify its truth tellers and aggrandize its liars and retain any semblance of gravitas and veritas.

There are far better Republican candidates than folks who fit in this last category like Trump, DeSantis, Cruz, et al. Please listen more to those who are getting vilified for remembering their oaths to the constitution than those who are leading the denigration. We deserve better than this, as does the GOP.

Please feel free to adapt and use. It is purposefully short to meet a 150 word limit on letters.

Anti Former Republican NC Governor Pat McCrory ads

The following is a letter I sent into my newspaper which they did not publish, but it is short for that reason. Former Republican Governor Pat McCrory is a moderate Republican that served two terms and seven terms as Mayor of North Carolina’s largest city. He is running in the primary for retiring Senator Richard Burr’s seat. His main opponent is a huge supporter of the former president.

As an independent and former Republican voter, I am bemused by the anti-Pat McCrory commercials being aired as he runs in the Republican primary for Senator. In the commercial, the ads repeat McCrory’s criticisms of the former president and various false narratives put forth by Trump sycophants. The commercial is quite detailed in summarizing McCrory’s concerns. Yet, I agree with everything McCrory said which would make me consider him if he wins the primary. To me this commercial puts McCrory in a positive light, not the intended negative one.

While it is intended to show McCrory as a RINO, which is a now a weaponized label, to get MAGA fans not to vote for him, to me it reveals someone who is actually worth voting for which I am sure was not their intention.