Editor, Manteca Bulletin,

As many of you have probably noticed, the political front is heating up on all sides. The Republicans are going through the national process of attempting to decide on a candidate to run against Obama.   You may get tired of all the debates and political ads as well as the infighting between all the candidates.  It’s all part of our political system in our attempt to select the best candidate.

How does one decide on who the best candidate is?  One first needs to decide whether one is Republican or Democrat.  In order to make that decision, one needs to look at the platform for each party and decide which platform is closest to your own beliefs.  Which party matches your moral values or belief system? 

Do you know that Lincoln was a Republican and he is the President who fought to free the slaves?  Do you know that Reagan was a Republican?  Do you know that Martin Luther King and Fredrick Douglas were Republicans? The Republican Party stands for smaller government, more freedom, less government intervention, family morals, freedom of religion, and a representative form of government.  They believe that less government is better. They believe that the national government should be involved in defending the nation from our enemies.  The Republican Party tends to be more conservative. The Republican Party tends to like limited government as outlined in the US. Constitution. They tend to favor giving power back to the states and local governments.

The Democrats want the federal government in control of more and more areas of our lives.  Their party favors abortion.  They want free medical care for people who can’t afford it, and have those who work to foot the bill.   They are encouraging class warfare.  They refuse to support the Keystone pipeline and the 20,000 jobs it would create plus the energy freedom we so desperately need. 

They  support electric cars by giving a huge amount to a company in Finland, who in turn laid off US workers and moved the jobs to Finland.   What about supporting business in the US?  The Democrats want to control and regulate it to the point of causing business to move overseas.   And now Obama “essentially decrees that Catholics can’t be Catholics.”   He is stomping on the Constitution and the freedom of religion that is guaranteed to all of us.  Is this the type of government you really want?  Do your moral values best line up with Republicans or Democrats?

Abraham Lincoln said “America will never be destroyed from the outside.  If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.” Will you allow our representative form of government to be destroyed or will you stand and fight for it?  Bottom line, it’s up to you.  

Linda & Richard Silverman
Manteca
Feb. 8, 2012