On being a Republican in Connecticut

I applaud Anthony Perna for his Dec. 26 op-ed “It’s not easy being a

Republican in Connecticut.” But I could not find any specific issue that the author said compelled him to be a Republican.

I moved to Connecticut at Mr. Perna’s age, and I went to work in a conservative office in the city of Hartford. The partnership consisted of Republican gentlemen, including the senior partner, who had been a state senator. This Republican party they belonged to wanted merely wanted low taxes and less government control. They humored the 18-year-old girl who brought in her JFK sign and put it on her desk. None of them looked down on the fact that I was a Democrat, a liberal-thinking gal.

Now the years have passed, and the party that Mr. Perna feels he identifies with is no longer just a party that wants fiscal responsibility within the government. Mr. Perna needs to look back in time to see which party has fought for lifting up all Americans, regardless of party, race, gender, religion.

He needs to ignore the frames made up to depict the Democratic party as fiscally irresponsible. For 200 years, Democrats have fought and brought Americans civil rights, voting rights, women’s rights and workers’ rights, and they have fought for education, environment, health care, immigration and so forth.

Mr. Perna can have an opposing viewpoint, but he should make sure it is based on facts.

Pam Bergren, East Hartford