Letters

Right about Roosevelt, Obama

Dear Editor,

I want to thank you for the article titled “Re-election could unleash new jobs plan” on page 4 of the Sept. 27 issue. For those of us who know and love New Orleans, we knew before Katrina that the federal “levy protection system” was bullshit. I also believe that the American Jobs Act could help us out of the current economic slump. I believe that history views Roosevelt’s public works projects as a catalyst that helped America out of the Depression.

I love the ending to your article, “New Orleans deserves more than a levy. America deserves more than just private sector jobs in the new economy.”

Wiliam Posey

San Diego

Fiery GOPer responds to recent ‘Message from our Publisher’

Dear Stampp,

I have been reading with interest your recent Publisher’s messages about Republicans, LGBT Republicans and Freedom.

Before I answer your question, “How can an LGBT person belong to the Republican Party? I think it’s only fair to examine the history of both political parties and their mutual founding principles on the issue of equal rights.

The Republican Party was formed in 1854 to abolish slavery and challenge other racist legislative acts initiated by the Democratic Party. For African Americans, the Civil war was really the war between the Democrats and the Republicans over slavery. The Democrats gave their lives to expand it; Republicans gave their lives to ban it. During the Senate debates on the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871, it was revealed that members of the Democratic Party formed many terrorist organizations like the Ku Klux Klan to murder and intimidate African American voters. The Ku Klux Klan Act was a bill introduced by a Republican Congress to stop Klan activities. All of the elected officials up to 1935 were Republicans. As of 2004, the Democratic Party (the oldest political party in America) had never elected a black man to the United States Senate, the Republicans had elected three.

Congressional records show it was Democrats that strongly opposed the passage of the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments. These three Amendments were introduced by Republicans to abolish slavery, give citizenship to all African Americans born in the United States and, give blacks the right to vote. Congressional records show that Democrats were opposed to passing the following laws that were introduced by Republicans to achieve civil rights for African Americans:

Civil Rights Act 1866

Reconstruction Act of 1867

Freedman Bureau Extension Act of 1866

Enforcement Act of 1870

Force Act of 1871

Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871

Civil Rights Act of 1875

Civil Rights Act of 1957

Civil Rights Act of 1960

And during the ’60s many Democrats fought hard to defeat the

1964 Civil Rights Act

1965 Voting Rights Acts

1972 Equal Employment Opportunity Act

Court records shows that it was the Democrats that supported the Dred Scott Decision. The decision classified blacks as property rather than people. It was also the racist Jim Crow practices initiated by Democrats that brought about the two landmark cases of Plessy v Ferguson and Brown v. The Board of Education. The chronicles of history shows that during the past 160 years the Democratic Party legislated Jim Crow laws, Black Codes and a multitude of other laws at the state and federal level to deny African Americans their rights as citizens.

Dr. Martin Luther King, several civil rights leaders and many historians reported that during the first two years of his administration, President John F. Kennedy ignored Dr. King’s request for civil rights. The chronicles of history reveal that it was only after television coverage of riots and several demonstrations did President Kennedy feel a need to introduce the 1963 Civil Rights Act. Congressional records show after signing the 1972 Equal Employment Opportunity Act and issuing Executive Order 11478, Richard Nixon, a Republican, started what we know as Affirmative Action. Republican President Ronald Reagan signed into law, a bill to make Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday a national holiday.

The racism established and promoted by members of the Democratic Party affected and infected the entire nation from 1856 with the Dred Scott decision, to the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education case. Contrary to revisionist history, it was the Republican Party that was on the forefront of the fight for equal rights and an end to slavery for African Americans.

What about the principles and platforms of the two parties today and the answer to your question about choosing the GOP. As an American I make political choices with regard to voting and party affiliation based on what I believe is best for the country and its future as a whole. I also make choices based on my core beliefs of what makes America exceptional, free and strong and how do we keep it that way so we can continue to fight for the issues of personal concern and leave America a better place. The key question for me is “what does this political party believe is the role of government in our lives? Do the policies and platform put forth support the American Constitutional way of life? I believe the DNC philosophy and ideology of collectivism and redistribution, which are the underlying themes on all 32 pages of the platform, are in direct contradiction to the principles in our Constitution. I do not believe that changing our American domestic way of life into a more European Socialist model is going to give us more freedom or make America a stronger and freer nation. I believe the socialist model is a much larger threat to my personal freedoms than any anti-gay faction in the GOP. The DNC platform and our president both clearly state that a fundamental change in the American government under the current Constitution is desired. Page 12 of the Platform states that “we will re-think reform and re-make our government to meet the challenges of the 21st century. The president asked Congress to re-instate the authority that past presidents had to re-organize and consolidate government agencies.” Page 13 states under the heading of “Greater Together” that “our COLLECTIVE efforts produce something better than the sum of our individual actions.” Bigger government, consolidating more power in DC and collectivism are all political ideologies that I fundamentally and respectfully disagree with. I do not consider a plank that supports gay marriage an equal trade-off for my personal freedom or liberty in general. Government dependency equals slavery and it seems to me the DNC is returning to its old ways of “the massah” will take care of you.

Further, to promote the idea that as a minority participation in one political party alone is subtle bigotry at best. It is dangerous for any minority to put all their political eggs and aspirations in one basket. That simply opens the door for being taken for granted. It is healthy and vitally important for LGBT people to be involved on both sides of the isle and party activism in both makes the community stronger. What LGBT equality legislation or what HIV+ funding has been passed in any house of any state recently or the Congress without the votes of Republicans? As a recent example; several Republican voted in the U.S. Senate for ending “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell,” New York’s recent legislation legalizing gay marriage passed with Republican help. In Iowa, the Supreme Court ruled in favor of gay marriage because of the Republican justices. In California, a Republican governor, Schwarzenegger, introduced and supported more equality rights bills than any governor in the history of the state. Lastly, our own Mayor Jerry Sanders has made historic and difficult decagons on behalf of LGBT equality and he continues to be an outspoken advocate at the national level. During the ’80s in San Diego, it was the efforts of the Log Cabin Republican Club that produced the first county and state AIDS funding, the first Police Liaison committee, the first openly gay city commissioner, and opened the door to many other Republican elected officials creating relationships with the LGBT community that are viable today.

There will always be haters in life no matter where we go and what we do. Martin Luther King Jr., who was a Republican, didn’t let that stop him in his fight for equal rights for African Americans. Why should LGBT Republicans run from a few fringe nuts for the same reason? This is not the time in history to back down or withdraw from the fight because the actions of a few. It is not fair or correct to say that ALL Republicans hate and despise the LGBT community.

“Forward” is the theme for the DNC team’s 2012 re-election bid and I would challenge you Stampp, and the LGBT community to move forward and away from demonizing and mocking LBGT people whose political ideology doesn’t match yours. In my LGBT America, people should be able to choose what they want to believe, what they want to say and where they want to make change without bias from their own community. If we all have to walk in lock step to be LGBT politically correct, then we are in trouble as a community and as a nation. I thought the LGBT community stands for diversity? Apparently LGBT Republicans still need to go to the back of the bus and are not allowed at the LGBT lunch counter. I’ve been an openly gay Republican activist and consultant to hundreds of candidates for 30 years and have never been barred from any convention or state committee or political war room. As an LGBT activist for 30 years, I am sad to say, a lot of hate speech and demagoguery passed my way from the LGBT community about being a Republican. It’s time for the LGBT leadership to realize the value in giving the younger LGBT generation the opportunity to get involved with any party they choose. It took the Democratic Party 160+ years to change their way of thinking about African American’s equal rights, and Marriage Equality change will come in America and within the GOP sooner rather than later only if and when we have strong LGBT voices, in both political parties.

Respectfully,

Susan Jester

Past President San Diego Log Cabin Club

Founding Board Member National Log Cabin Club

Political Director New Jersey Republican State Committee

Executive Director, Union County NJ Republican Committee

Executive Director, Bergen County NJ Republican Committee

Bush/Cheney 2000 Victory Committee New Jersey Director

Bush/Cheney 2004 Victory Committee New Jersey Director

Alternate Delegate RNC Convention 2000

Alternate Delegate RNC Convention 2004

California State Committee Delegate 1984-1990

Executive Director Stonewall 25, NYC 1994

Founder, San Diego Police Liaison Committee

Ms. Gay San Diego 1983

Founder, San Diego AIDS Walk

San Diego City Neighborhood Relations Commissioner 1986

Human Rights Campaign Fund National Events Mgr. 1990=1992