Jaundiced eye on politics

Party politics

Regarding “The GOP must address problems with candidates like Moore” (Page A3, Thursday), Erica Grieder’s column touched on many of the reasons I decided I could no longer be affiliated with the Republican Party.

The moral compass of the Republican Party no longer appears to exist. Winning at all costs has superseded doing what is best for the people. “Democrat” is synonymous with “the enemy.” Compromise isn’t an option.

When discussing politics with others, the most frequent comment I hear is, “Oh, all politicians are crooks.” That mentality may be well-deserved, but we can’t afford to jadedly accept it. It is up to us to find better people to represent us. It is up to us to take the time to vote on each position, instead of pushing the “straight ticket” button. It is up to us to overcome the fear of other political parties and vote for the better candidate, whoever it may be.

We know that local and state public needs have been ignored for years: our schools are underfunded, our foster care system is broken, our cities are flooding and tax dollars are wasted on pushing a bigoted bathroom bill and fighting the federal government to keep our gerrymandered districts. Our state attorney general is preoccupied with his felony indictments, and our agriculture commissioner tried to get away with funding his “Jesus shot” trip with our tax dollars.

We deserve much better, but we have to take action to get it. Susan Ellis Brittain,

Houston