Earl Durnell wrote a letter in today's News-Leader detailing why he is a Democrat. I so heartily agree with every word he said. My reply to him:


Mr. Durnell, What a great letter. I'm a few years younger than you, and we always had electricity, but some of my relatives living further back in the hills were slower to get electricity. If Roosevelt had not taken on the rural electrification project, progress would have been slowed by decades in areas like the Ozarks.

Being a Democrat has always seemed like a no-brainer for me. None of my family has ever made more than $250,000 per year, so they are more concerned with how to pay for college, and how to afford the health care they need, and living through their senior years without being a burden on the rest of the family.

Republicans are funded by corporate fat cats, who care only about the bottom line and how much money they can siphon off the efforts of the working class. That is what "free" trade is all about, their constant mantra of the last few years. It is all about closing our factories, and sending production to countries like China where workers are virtual slaves making a few cents per hour. (But, they are so lucky to have those jobs, we're told!) There are no environmental or safety regulations to worry about either.

The Republican platform of late is to clear cut the forest, neglect the infrastructure, ship the jobs overseas, outsource and privatize everything possible to make a profit for the corportate masters.Wake up, Ozarkers, and smell the economic disaster for the 95% of us who are not in the upper echelon.

Let's get back to the basics of clean air and water, healthy home-grown food, access to education for everyone, decent housing, jobs for everyone and universal access to health care for every US citizen.

Republicans have pulled all politics to the corporate view, its time to pull back to put government once again in the service of the people in both parties.