Letters, 2021, GOP Destroying Democracy, January 16, January 27, June 23, June 26, July 29, October 2, 9, October 23

An old adversary got me started in 2021.

***

A few years ago when Arnold Palmer was blistering the golf courses, the media labeled his many devoted followers as “Arnie’s Army.”

In my opinion, the liberal press and electronic news media should come up with the term “Trump’s Troopers” for those supporting the President, because no matter what they throw at President Trump and his devoted followers, the almost 75,000,000 folks that voted for him are not going away anytime soon.

There appears to be plenty of evidence regarding the fraud that went on to cheat the president out of his reelection.

One would have to be both blind and deft to believe otherwise.

I am standing by for the retort I will probably get to this letter but it will fall on deaf ears; a spade is a spade and by any other term it is a spade.

        Tony Cavarno

        Printed January 16, 2021 in the Siusalw News

***

I submitted the following letter to the Siuslaw News January 17, Editor “Ed” be damned. It was not printed on the 20^th or 23, the next two editions of the paper. This is what I had written.

***

Tony Cavarno challenged Siuslaw News readers to response to his January16 Opinion statement that the recent presidential election had been rigged, that Trump had won. I offer these excerpts from a 2018 article written by Christian pastor and author John Pavlovitz. https://johnpavlovitz.com/2018/08/07/you-cant-change-hatred-but-you-can-outvote-it/?fbclid=IwAR1QgD5MNAHrpzrkG_0ewKlZVkJRO7a1ZgTn9phxuZOw57esLfBdcEdPGis)

I think it’s time to stop saying that we need to understand these people. I think we do understand them:

We understand that they have dug in their heels so deeply, they will not be moved by anything—not facts or data or truth or their own eyes.

…

If adults are that fragile in the face of reality, that willing to deny country and humanity simply because they’re offended, that thin-skinned and prone to mutiny—their dispositions aren’t really a burden the rest of us should or could bear.

…

… since these people will not be moved, the rest of us need to move together.

…

We don’t need to convince or coddle or win over hatred, and we don’t need to outdo it either.

We need to outnumber it.
We need to outlast it.
We need to outlove it.
We need to outvote it.

To this I add: We need to declare always what is true and what is not.

***

Editor Ed printed a version of the letter January 27.

He removed the link to the Pavlovitz article.

He used a semi-colon and a closed quotation mark – neither of which was necessary – and omitted my three dots between certain excerpts that indicated that the excerpts were not consecutive.

He omitted (the phrase is in bold letters) a part of one excerpt that I definitely wanted included: “If adults are that fragile in the face of reality, that willing to deny country and humanity simply because they’re offended, that thin-skinned and prone to mutiny—their dispositions aren’t really a burden the rest of us should or could bear.

Ed cannot help himself. Everything must comport to his sense of propriety. Never mind that the author should be entitled to express exactly what he believes.

***

Several months later Ed resigned his position and left the newspaper. I submitted the following letter to test whether the new Siuslaw News editor would print what Ed would never accept.

***

Strike up the band. Release the balloons. Our greatest president will be reinstated in August!

Thank you, ninjas in Arizona, for exposing how the Socialist lefties and George Soros, Bill Gates, and Anthony Fauci cheated Donald J. Trump out of being reelected!

Our leader warned us about mail-in ballots. The media mob and the socialists in Congress have attacked Trump like no President before him. So unfair. You know it. I know it. He’s a stable genius. He’s got a big brain. He knows more than the generals.

You should thank him for Pfizer, Moderna, and J&J. And Biden, now taking all the credit! Disgraceful!

Fake news wants you to believe that we MAGAs attacked the capitol. It was Antifa dressed to look like us! Yes, some of us were there, We were peaceful. We had really good reasons to protest! If you don’t play by the rules, you don’t have a country!

AOC, that Muslim Omar, Pelosi, Pocahantas, Clinton, Abrams, Shifty Schiff, Sleepy Joe want to ruin it! Every real American state legislator, governor and flag-waving patriot must stop the steal! Forever!

If you believe this garbage, you’ve been suckered by the king of liars and a political party shamelessly dishonest. GOP-controlled state houses and governors have passed legislation that cements autocratic rule. Congressional and Senate Republicans are fine with it. They and their media mouthpieces are traitors to our democracy!

Stop their theft of unfettered, universal suffrage, of receiving always from all media sources truthful information, of our wanting to attempt to enjoy a productive, fulfilling life!

        Printed June 23, 2021, in the Siuslaw News

***

The only change to this letter was that two words – “that Muslim” – were removed. One person responded to the letter.

***

This week’s Letters to the Editor made me wonder what a newcomer might conclude about Florence. My discomfort comes from the litany of “Trumpisms” which drip with disdain (“Suckered into Belief,” Harold Titus). Instead of a tone welcoming diversity of thought, these diatribes claim to be facts.

Publish more topics of shared interests and concerns, please.

        Bou Kilgore

        Printed June 26, 2021 in the Siuslaw News

***

The following letter was a condensation of a 400+ letter I sent to the Florence City Council honoring the request of Mike Allen, FADC member and local climate change activist.

***

Bruce Jarvis’s request July 19 that the City Council adopt a “Stand for Freedom” resolution to make clear that the city of Florence “will not assist our governor or any state agency with the enforcement of any law, mandate or edict that is against the United States Constitution” is the product of a fevered mind. Jarvis referenced “widespread discord and unrest … rampant in our society today” and that “such a resolution will serve to unite our community and increase our sense of personal safety.” The “discord and unrest” so rampant in our country is the result of the madness of current Trumpian Republican Party policy that seeks to cement permanent autocratic, one-party minority rule that is the antithesis of one-person one-vote democratic practice. 

Sam Spayd, referencing climate change, declared that “time spent by our city council would be better utilized in dealing with the issues that are right in our face .. [that] present a definite challenge to the time our city council has for dealing with issues which will have a direct impact upon our lives.” The menace of climate change is not “in our face”? Does not “have a direct impact upon our lives”? What can be said about such deniers of fact, of science – these blatant tunnel-visioned proponents of benefit solely for corporations and self – that evades derision?

There are principled Republicans who champion democracy, cherish truth, respect science, value individual sacrifice and social responsibility. Step forward.

        Printed July 29, 2021, in the Siuslaw News

***

I offered the Siuslaw News the following letter in August. The editor held the letter for 7 weeks. I finally sent my letter to The World. They printed it without a single alteration. Soon afterward the Siuslaw News editor sent me an email informing me that she had had a large backlog of letters yet to be printed and would print mine in the next edition, October 9.

***

Ultra right conservative viewpoints do not constitute majority thinking in this country. History has demonstrated that such thinking put into practice (anti-mask, anti-vaccination, and denial of climate change being examples) is invariably destructive of the lives and physical and economic health of most Americans. Right now we are 14 months away from becoming a fascist nation ruled by a soulless arty committed entirely to the seizure and maintenance of dictatorial power.

During my lifetime the GOP has always been a White male, Christian, corporation-directed party. Its office holders have been rewarded handsomely for promoting and protecting the interests of their wealthy donors. It can not dare to say to ordinary citizens, “You don’t matter because your well being clashes with what the Koch brothers, Exxon, Chevron, the pharmaceutical industry, and most large corporations demand.” Instead, Republican officials and their media mouthpieces lie, incessantly. The Democratic Party is evil incarnate. They will destroy our beloved country. With their costly economic programs, do you really really want – horrors – Socialism? The debt! The debt! Why, tax cuts for the rich grow the economy, create jobs! You, too, will benefit! (Never mind that your income has remained stagnant for decades. Never mind that so many Americans are destitute, about to be evicted, already homeless.)

Complementing GOP lies is the party’s use of wedge issues. They shape and intensify White Americans’ existing resentments, fears, and prejudices. Dems want abortion on demand. Biden’s gonna get your guns. Illegals are streaming across our borders. Blacks are gonna take your jobs and ransack your neighborhoods. God and our way of life are going to be erased.

Same old, still same old. Now much more! Democracies don’t survive when dishonest politicians count the vote!

        Printed October 2, 2021, in The World

                    October 9, 2021, in the Siuslaw News. The Siuslaw News editor held the letter 7 weeks, informing me politely of a huge back load.

***

An old adversary responded.

***

In response to a letter in the Oct. 9 Siuslaw News entitled “They Say,” I want to ask --- what planet is Mr. Titus living on?

It’s easy for a retired person living in a very comfortable community such as Florence with a secure income to throw out a letter to convey that all is well and beautiful under the current administration, Really?

The influence of this administration is reaching across America to tear everything apart for our survival. When you go outside of our cocoon here, you will have a wake-up call.

Mr. Titus can criticize the conservative Christians, but I have to point out that these are the very people who are working tirelessly to maintain the freedom and values we grew up with as children.

We are not against masks and vaccinations per se, but the mandates of force. The climate change is another issue for control over the way we live. The liberal politicians say one thing and do another.

Our education system is one of the more serious issues at hand. Some things have no business being taught in our schools, directing our youth towards radical ideas. Education should be a guide towards a career, not an indoctrination to cause division.

It’s grievous to see what has happened to this country in these short nine months: gas prices on the rise and soon to be in short supply, empty grocery shelves in larger cities, nurses and doctors walking off their jobs, airlines canceling flights in large numbers and the list goes on. This is just the beginning.

People are afraid and becoming desperate.

In my mind, the delusional democrats need to get a grip on reality.

        Donna Dobson

        Printed October 23, 2021, in the Siuslaw News

***

I’m happy to report that in the Siuslaw News’s October 3 edition fellow Democratic Club member Karen Mahoney rebuffed Donna Dobson’s GOP talking points – especially this phrase: “The influence of this administration is reaching across America to tear everything apart for our survival” brilliantly.

 

Letters, 2019-2020, Few and Far Between, December 7, 2019; September 21, October 3, October 5, October 6

Can't resist starting with a joke.

***

An airplane is about to crash. There were 4 passengers on board but only 3 parachutes. The first passenger said, “I am Steph Curry, the best NBA basketball player. The Warriors and my many fans need me. I can’t afford to die.” He took the first pack and left the plane.

The second passenger, Donald Trump, said, “I am the U.S. President, and I am the smartest President in American history, so my people don’t want me to die.” He took the second packet and jumped out of the plane.

The third passenger, the Pope, said to the fourth passenger, a ten-year-old schoolboy, “My son, I am very old and don’t have many year left to live. You have more years ahead of you, so I will sacrifice my life and let you have the last parachute.”

The little boy said, “That’s okay, your Holiness. There’s a parachute left for you. America’s smartest President took my school bag.”

***

I finally had too much of a need to write a letter. This was the result:

***

Intriguing how the mind can flit from one image, fact, or event to another.

I was moved recently by a scene from the HBO drama “Chernobyl.” The entire population of a large area around the exploded core of the Soviet nuclear power plant had been evacuated. Animals had to be exterminated and buried under cement. In one sector three workers had to shoot cats and dogs, craving human contact. Across the TV screen dogs ran toward their destruction.

My mind jumped to the thousands of Latino children that were separated from their parents at the Mexican/American border. We know now that the Trump administration had planned approximately 26,000 separations, despite lacking the technological means to effect reunification.

Another jump. We have Donald Trump’s scheme to accuse Joe Biden of corruption during the upcoming 2020 presidential election, set up by Trump forcing Ukraine’s new prime minister to declare that Ukraine would investigate Biden and his son’s supposed participation in Ukraine’s supposed involvement in the 2016 U. S. presidential election to get Hillary Clinton elected, this to render false rock solid evidence that Russia had interfered to benefit Trump.

Next jump. Trump is supported by at least 40% of the voting public. A good friend of mine years ago noted: ”People believe what they want.” Every day GOP mouthpieces vilify, falsify, incite. Emotion trumps fact. We have a divided country and, alas, Trump, the worst of their worst.

Dishonesty, cruelty, lust for power, incompetence, ignorance, and stupidity endanger us all.

        Printed December 7, 2019, in The World

***

Then, this one.

***

I need to rant.

Is it stupid to expect those who legislate and administer the law to be honest, caring people?

Is it naive to want our elected officials to represent our values, not exclusively the selfish wants of large corporations and the very rich?

Is it wrong for me to judge as traitors to our country media outlets (Fox News, Sinclair Broadcasting, Breitbart, etc.) and individual commentators (Limbaugh, Hannity, Carlson, Levin, etc.) that manipulate the ignorance and emotions of their uneducated audience into believing, fervently, that Democrats are evil and today’s Republican Party and its leaders are America’s saviors?

Is it okay to let pass blatant violations of the law – for instance, the destruction of the postal service -- designed to benefit the political fortunes of a president if you support that president?

If you are white and, especially, male, what gives you the right to believe that minorities are not entitled to the same rights, opportunities, and respect that you yourself are provided?

Is it that easy for you to accept the response “There are always a few bad apples” when confronted so repeatedly with instances of police brutality toward and the murder of African Americans, none deserving aggressive confrontation?

I recall vividly every one of the 14 or 15 Republican Party candidates for President on the stage of one of the Republican Party debates in 2016 not raising their hands when instructed by the debate moderator, “Raise your hand if you believe that climate change is real and caused by human behavior.” Which is more important to you: loyalty to your party’s dogma or the survival of the human species?

Lies, lies, lies! Which you take as fact if they adhere to your political beliefs. Are you that sort of person – believing the present excrement offered by Republicans today, Sunday, September 20, that it is perfectly okay to rush through the nomination and acceptance of a new Supreme Court justice when there are less that 50 days left to the next presidential election when during President Obama’s last year in office (10 months before the 2016 election) Mitch McConnell refused to hold a hearing to consider Obama’s nomination to fill a sudden Supreme Court justice vacancy?

The least among us should never determine our country’s fate. Trump and his enablers would have us be Putin’s greatest accomplishment.

        Printed in The World September 21, 2020

***

Election time. Caddy McKeown and Arnie Roblan were retiring. New candidates (both parties) were running to fill their positions. Again, I felt obliged to support the Democratic Party candidates. I submitted the following letter to the Siuslaw News September 29 knowing that Editor Ed would meddle with it. The letter was mild in tone. He did meddle, made several middling changes entirely unnecessary in my opinion, done, I concluded, to rouse my ire. The letter was printed in the Siuslaw News October 3. I sent my original letter (below) to The World immediately thereafter.

***

We Democrats know a thing or two because we’ve seen a thing or two.

A minority party nationally and here in Oregon, the GOP will do just about anything to get its way.

Senate majority leader McConnell stole a Supreme Court justice for Trump in 2016 and is doing it again less than 40 days before Joe Biden’s probable election. Trump plans to use the resultant 6 to 3 conservative majority to kill the Affordable Care Act and to have Roe v. Wade declared unconstitutional. Many media analysts predict that after the election Trump will challenge in the courts Biden victories in key swing states and the Supreme Court will declare Trump president.

We who live along the central Oregon coast will be deciding who will represent us in the state house and senate. The recent fires that have ravaged the state should have made blatant to all one major consequence of climate change. In 2018 senate Republicans, by leaving the state, denied Democrats a quorum to pass a cap and trade bill that would have reduced the emission of global warming causing pollutants. In 2019 GOP senators and House members did it again for the same purpose.

Choose Cal Mukumoto (House District 9) and Melissa Cribbins (Senate District 5) – go visit their websites – to represent us. We need visionary, not reactionary public officials, to move this state (and nation) forward.

        Printed in The World October 5, 2020

***

I sent this email to the editor of The World October 6.

***

Dear editor,

This is not meant for publication.

I want you to know how much I appreciate your policy of allowing each letter writer, regardless of his educational background, regardless of the discomfort he exhibits selecting words to communicate easily his thoughts, to say his piece without interference. You value free speech.

Not every newspaper editor does this. The editor of the Siuslaw News in Florence does not. He deletes, he rephrases; in so doing he changes the force and tone of your message and he destroys your voice – usually to dissuade partisan division, sometimes to demonstrate his perceived superiority as a writer. I have told him that rather than include my name under any letter that I send him that he should print “Based on a letter submitted by Harold Titus.”

Again, thank you. Excellent newspaper practices should be acknowledged. 

Letters, 2018, T'hell with the Editor, September 1, September 8, September 15, October 18

 

The next episode I had with Editor “Ed” involved my response to this letter written by David Eckhardt.

***

Because letter writers Tom Jackson and Mary DeCeault (“No Cherry Picking,” “Some of the ‘Accomplishments’ of Donald Trump,” Aug. 29) have already covered all the left-wing talking points so eloquently, I would like to provide my own truthful perspective.

First, after eight years of unquestioned far-left policies, it is a wonder President Trump could achieve anything with all the ridiculous policies that had been put in place. But as former President Obama liked to do: If you can’t get what you want through Congress, just use a phone and a pen. In doing so, he left the door open for President Trump to void many of our former president’s bad ideas — and for that, I thank him.

As for the 500 (estimated) children not reunited with their parents, it’s on the parents for committing a crime by coming to the U.S. illegally. They knew what they were doing, just as people who commit crimes here and get sent to jail; they, too, get separated from their kids. Unless we do something worse by putting the kids in jail with their parents.

Yes, Trump’s North Korea plan has not panned out too well. But he did get a couple of prisoner’s back home, along with some of our MIAs’ remains (we hope). And it didn’t cost us a dime.

The jury is out on the tax cuts cost. But what we do know is that the economy is going gang busters. Unemployment among all categories is at its lowest in a long, long time. And the GDP is above four percent after being told, for the previous eight years, that we needed to accept a measly two percent GDP or less as the new normal.

As for downsizing the National Monuments and allowing companies to explore for energy? No problem there. In my opinion, they were getting used for vote-getting and fundraising from the eco-extremists like the Sierra Club and other far-left eco groups. And just where is the pollution and environmental damage from this? Take a look at the EPA’s pollution of the Colorado river. As of last year, it still hasn’t paid the bill. (www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation -now/2017/01/13/epa-wont-pay-claims-mine-spill-released-3m-gallons-toxic-water/96555846)

As for the president’s golfing… Wow, I am amazed that anyone could play golf more than President Obama. When it comes to who golfed more, I really don’t care either way.

I could give a longer list of things I think matter, but then the editor would have to give me a whole page — and that is unlikely. So here is a link to the not right-wing Washington Times article (www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/may/6/giving-trumps-accomplishments-their-due).

That all being said, I would like to see a few less tweets. Personally, I don’t tweet because I think it is silly.

Sept. 1, 2018

***

Below is my response to Eckhardt’s letter. Ed revised it and printed his version without my permission.

***

I saw recently on Facebook a video of a man rescuing six puppies deposited along a desert road somewhere in a Western state. How entirely cruel the owner of those puppies had to have been!

Ah, but the puppies were not human beings; their owner surely would not have abandoned six children.

In that same vein, President Trump and his administration deliberately separated some 500 children from their asylum-seeking parents seeking entrance into our country at the southern border.

His motive? It appears to be to send a message: Come here with your children; you lose them.

How can he and his supporters minimize this horrendously cruel act? Heed David Eckhardt’s words in his Sept. 1 letter. “… it’s on the parents for committing a crime by coming to the U.S. illegally. [Forget the fact that seeking asylum is not a violation of U.S. law.] They knew what they were doing, just as people who commit crimes here and get sent to jail; they, too, get separated from their kids. Unless we do something worse by putting the kids in jail with their parents.”

I am dismayed to suspect that there is a segment of our population that sees Latinos — and anyone else who isn’t “like us” as criminals and rapists, gang members, drug dealers and murderers.

Thank you to our president, Fox News, Newt Gingrich and the rest of the political agitators on the airwaves who have not one scintilla of conscience, reducing “the others” to sub-human status.

That mindset seeks to make it palatable to the general population to separate vulnerable children from their desperate parents in the same way as leaving unwanted puppies to die of thirst and over-exposure.

September 8

***

I sent this email out to several friends.

***

Just so you know. I’ve had it with this guy. He just destroys the heart and soul of a forceful letter. The attachment I have provided illustrates it. He did this to me recently and I called him on it, he apologized for printing his changes without consulting me first. I assumed thereafter that any changes he wanted to make in forthcoming letters that I would send him he would try to negotiate. I said he should leave letters send to him (by anyone) alone. Once again he did what he did previously: print his version of my letter and embarrass me (portraying me as somewhat of a milquetoast that writes awkward sentences) without contacting me previously. I really don’t intend to write any future letters. I would tell him that but I need his good will to print a forthcoming book presentation notice I plan to make.

***

I received two responses.

***

Jenny Velinty: It seems like a lost cause for any kind of balance with the SN and I note letters from Florence are being printed in the RG, [Register-Guard] which is also rapidly stepping right and dumping any opinions but their own.

It looks like a time to circle the wagons, support each other privately, use the Eugene Weekly for print, and get out the vote. The midterms are crucial for derailing this bull on wheels and I hope the fickle Independents have seen the light.

The dems must keep getting background on Kavenaugh and delay the rush to install him and hopefully Obama can make a difference. The news that healthcare costs are contained may help but racism is exploding around the world. People seem ready to throw out all the old guard in their frustration. Only Ruth Ginsberg gets respect.

Rand Dawson: Harold....we know you are not milquetoast....and not nearly as civilized as that letter he printed!! At least he left your name unscathed ....I personally cannot imagine where he gets the time to do that....////Hey--take a break....your talents are too much needed to deny us your wisdom-en-futuro…

***

Here was David Eckhardt’s hissy fit response letter.

***

In response to Harold Titus’ Letter to the Editor “Dehumanizing Others Who Are ‘Not Like Us’” (Sept. 8), which referenced my Sept. 1 letter (“The Real Accomplishments of President Trump”), I am not dehumanizing anyone.

Comparing puppies to children in his letter and then conflating that to what “all” presidents have done to protect our country is contemptible at the least and ignorant at best. As many already know, seeking asylum is not illegal. But crossing our boarder without permission is.

Yet in his letter, Mr. Titus misleads in a way that confuses one with the other.

Following his train of thought, the parents of illegal immigrants have no responsibility for what their actions cause. So, should we just have no borders or laws to deter people from breaking them?

Taking that extreme view to its logical conclusion, we should just suspend all laws that interfere with what a person wants to do.

In his letter, Mr. Titus went on to conflate that members of our brave policing agencies are racist for enforcing our laws, suggesting by way of association that those of us who support policing the laws — including the president — are also racist.

That could not be more wrong, and those who think that way are simply dishonest and, in my opinion, contemptible. To think that all who cross illegally into our country are saints is pure ignorance.

And let’s be clear: No one has said that all illegals are rapists and murders.

But that reality doesn’t fit the narrative, which is to paint those on the “right” as Nazis or Nazi supporters. The intent of letters like that is to stifle dissent through a narrative that accuses those in support of the rule of law as racists.

I, for one, won’t be deterred by that.

In this unperfect world, we are all responsible for our actions and the consequences of those actions. Like it or not, each of us has a responsibility to be aware of — and enforce — the laws that govern us as a republic.

Anyone wishing to come here and become a citizen should be welcomed with open arms. Just one requirement: Do it legally.

        Printed September 15, 2018, in the Siuslaw News

***

I emailed Editor Ed the following October 18.

***

Certain practices contrary to the welfare of the vast majority of people and the people who perpetuate them need to be called out for what they are. Taking the heat out of the calling diminishes considerably the message to the point that it is no longer worth the doing. No need to talk any further. Your policy is reducing your number of letter writers, I suspect, from both the left and the right.

***

I vowed not to submit another letter to the Siuslaw News until Ed ceased to be its editor.

I did submitted a long letter October 17. Our state representative, Caddy McKeown was up for re-election. Her opponent had said some nasty things about Caddy at a Republican Party rally in Florence. A Democrat had been at the rally and had recorded her words. I had received a transcript of what she had said. I had always written letters of recommendation for Caddy and Arnie Roblan. I felt obliged to do so again, despite my disagreements with Ed. I doubted that he would print the letter, so I sent him a message along with the letter.

***

This is a long letter. Perhaps it could be used in your “guest viewpoint” feature.

If you want to use it, I do not want anything changed. In my last two letters you made considerable (unnecessary in my opinion) changes without my knowledge, causing me to think that instead of putting my name underneath the printed letter you should have stated “based on a letter submitted by Harold Titus.” You should not get to modify a letter writer’s opinion and pass it off as what he precisely thinks. Same goes for how the letter writer expresses himself.

Consequently, I do not want you to print this letter if you feel compelled to make even one change.

***

This was Ed’s response, October 18.

I appreciate your letter and taking the time to share your perspective. That being said, I think we should talk about the difference between Letters to the Rditor and Guest Viewpoints. Letters have specific guidelines that run in each edition along the side of page A4 (Opinion Page). I do allow a certain latitude when it comes to Guest Viewpoints, primarily because they receive a certain prominence based on the writer’s expertise, particular insight or background on the subject. When it comes to Letters, however, in addition to a preferred length (again with which I have some latitude depending on the number of submissions), the following guidelines apply:

“… Letters are subject to editing for length, grammar and clarity. Publication of any letter is not guaranteed and depends on space available and the volume of letters received.

Letters that are anonymous, libelous, argumentative, sarcastic or contain accusations that are unsourced or documented will not be published.

Our objective is to provide letter writers with an opportunity to share a specific insight or perspective in a way that is as concise as possible and devoid of argumentative, sarcastic or inflammatory language. Whatever editing I did was likely done to eliminate those components while still leaving the message intact, such as the difference between “The candidate is unqualified” and “The candidate is ridiculously unqualified.”

Without question, the attached piece would have to be a Guest Viewpoint because of its length and tone. I will tell you that, if specific quotes are included and attributed for or against someone in the Guest Viewpoint (or Letter, for that matter), I require submissions to include the sourcing of those quotes unless they are referring to a quote that has appeared in our own newspaper (which I can easily verify.) This is just due diligence in the interest of fairness. I receive many letters that reference quotes with no attribution or source, and I don’t run them. This would be the case with your submission, in which you reference quotes “recorded by a registered Democrat.”

I don’t need to include that person’s name in the submission, but I at least need to verify it with the individual or hear the recording myself before attributing words to any individual mentioned in a Letter or Guest Viewpoint.

It’s probably not the response you were looking for. However, I have taken the time to explain my position and reasoning in the hope that it will facilitate more of your submissions rather than fewer of them.

***

Expecting its rejection, I sent my letter, slightly revised, to Coos Bay’s The World.

***

Teri Grier’s high talk about providing “compassionate leadership for our coast” is not meant to persuade me and other long-time liberals. Some sort of sorcery is required to erase the images of Mitch McConnell declaring how much huge tax cuts for large corporations and billionaires are going to provide jobs, the White House’s calculated, cruel separation of immigrant children from their asylum-seeking parents, and GOP Secretaries of State purging from their states’ voter rolls probable Democratic Party voters. GOP candidates like Grier have to dissemble hard to try to reverse the growing disregard many voters harbor for today’s Republican Party.

The GOP has always been the water-carriers of big business and the very wealthy. To attain majority support, Republican candidates must assert that their taxation policies benefit the middle and lower economic classes; they must exacerbate wedge issues; they must exploit citizenry fear of and prejudice toward people easily scapegoated; and they must vilify their opponents. Truth goes out the window. Winning is all that matters.

Red Republican Teri Grier opposes cap and trade, the mildest form of reducing CO2 emissions. On her website, she states: “Cap-and-trade is a system designed to raise tax revenue, not reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”

She bemoans the poverty so apparent in rural Oregon and blames Democrats. Corporate employee wages across our county have been stagnant for decades while corporate profits have soared. Which political party has supported this? Which political party opposes minimum wage increases while pushing always to cut taxes that benefit almost exclusively the top one percent? Teri Grier takes the Ayn Rand position that the poor must not be helped. Assisting them, she has said, turns them into babies, strips them of their self-esteem, destroys their motivation.

Grier’s website states that she supports right-wing Measures 104 and 106.

Her attack flyers — typical GOP vilification — portray Caddy McKeown as a horrible person. Surprised?

Caddy McKeown is a moderate, business-oriented Democrat. At a recent forum she stated: "I’m much more concerned about voting for this district than I am about voting for or against a party.”

In 2012 I wrote this in The World. "I want representing me a person who is governed not by expediency, and not by moneyed interests that benefit the few. I want that person guided by fairness and conscience.” That is what I got. That is what I will get if Caddy is re-elected.

Printed in The World October 22, 2018

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Here are comments e-mailed to me by friends.

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Karin Radtke: Wow Harold! And just when I was starting to think we might have to call on our local "Weroance" [reference to my novel Alsoomse and Wanchese] to start mediating... Thanks, and will pass this around.

Rand Dawson: wowow....honest to god....!!

Ron Preisler: Your article is excellent as usual. Shame more locals won’t be able to read it. Did you send it to … [Ed] as well?

Igor Kusznirczuk: I would forward to .. [Ed] and thank him for being such a jackass. Nice work.

Rosetta Favors: Good job!!!

Heather Rollins: Very nice.

Jenny Velinty: A-HA! More than one way to get an LTE published! Congrats! The World is the best place for a letter supporting Caddy. They know her quiet get-it-done ways. She’s one of them-treading a cautious but determined path and the longer she stays in office the stronger and wider her influence will be.