Let me start by saying I don’t think either party has been serving The Constitution or The People for years, setting the stage for the autocrat currently in the White House, happily dismantling the Constitution and remaking the rules as he goes about turning himself into the dictator he aspires to be. He knowingly breaks laws with impunity, ignores due process, thumbs his nose at the courts even as he claims he will do what the courts say, and makes American streets look like 1930s Germany as soldiers intimidate citizens under the guise of fighting rampant crime…but only in Democratic states and cities.

I am a registered Independent, having lost faith in both parties as they spend their time attacking each other instead of working together like adults to solve the serious problems facing this country and moving us closer to the ideal the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution set before us. I don’t vote for parties; I do my homework and I vote for people who articulate their positions, guided by a desire to serve and improve the lives of ALL Americans instead of demonizing opponents and citizens they consider to be too ‘other’.

That being said, the soulless Republican Party wins the Hypocrisy Award as they replace their fidelity to the Constitution with blind allegiance to the bully in the White House, willingly handing their oversight, law making, and funding responsibilities over to the Bully in the White House.

A letter in the September 3 edition of the paper ripped into the Democrats, but seems unaware of Republican antics. A case in point is accusing the ‘communist state of California’ of redesigning their voting districts to ensure more seats in the midterms. Did he forget the redesigning Texas and others did, following Trump’s orders to redraw their districts halfway through the cycle, to hopefully rig the midterms in favor of the Republicans? I was disappointed, but not surprised, that California decided to get down in the mud with the gerrymandering zealots and throw out the nonpartisan committee that showed a better way. The bottom line is, if we want free elections where EVERY vote carries the same weight, and EVERY voice has a chance to be heard, gerrymandering must be tossed out. It is an undemocratic rigging of elections that allows the majority party to ensure that some votes are worth more than others. Both parties are guilty of using it because it’s easier to encourage voters to vote for the party than to vote for the most qualified candidate, regardless of party. It is an egregious conflict of interest for Legislatures to make weird districts to stack the deck in their own favor.

NANCY McCARTY

Williamsport

Submitted by Virtual Newsroom