DEAR EDITOR:
This year's election is one of the most important in history and Ohio may be critical to the outcome. I have always considered myself an independent, but since 1968 when the Democratic party abandoned my wartime commander-in-chief, Lyndon Johnson, in favor of a more "politically correct" candidate, I now vote Republican almost 90 percent of the time. I cannot bring myself to endorse "elitist" politicians who value their opinions more than the opinions of the "uninformed masses" they want to lead. They worry about their political future more than the future of the United States.
Unfortunately, quite a few people I consider to be intelligent, patriotic citizens seem to favor these liberal, -- "I know better than you, " candidates. What I will never understand, however, is how a veteran can ever bring himself to cast his vote for the leftist liberals that have taken over the once proud Democratic party. The party of Word War II Presidents Roosevelt and Truman, of JFK ("Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country"), and of the last true Democrat, Lyndon Johnson, abandoned their incumbent and swung left in 1968.
Bill Clinton, even though he protested our Vietnam involvement while attending college in England, was only a hint of just how radical this swing to the left would become. John Kerry, an individual I will never consider my Vietman brother and our current president seem to put little value in our military. The fiasco in Libya that took the lives of four Americans is only the latest disaster resulting from the "enlightened leadership" that won't even acknowledge the war on terrorism, let alone fight it.
More dangerous than having an anti-military leader in the White House, is the quality of the appointments that result in an attorney general who is more concerned with bringing lawsuits against states for trying to secure our borders or prevent voter fraud, while the obviously guilty Muslim extremists who killed 14 Americans at Fort Hood and three thousand Americans on 9-11 make a mockery of our legal system. Even more appalling is the top tier of our state department not providing protection for diplomats at one of the most dangerous consulates on earth, while our defense secretary seems to believe America's "military policy" is to ignore pleas for help from our security personnel until he considers it "safe" to go to their aid!?
It's about time we realize that these leaders bear little resemblance to the patriotic leaders of the past, just as today's "unions" have little in common with unions of yesterday. Union officials who risked life and limb for their workers have been replaced by officials more interested in preserving their cushy jobs and using union funds to promote their political agendas and compensate their friends. God help us if we don't stop believing in labels that no longer represent the principles they once did, and God help our country if we continue to vote for politicians rather than patriots.
Robert Cameron
Newton Falls