Letters: Once-Grand Old Party

Once-Grand Old Party

As a former Republican voter, I am appalled by what has happened to the party of Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt and Eisenhower: its unceasing attacks on public education, its dirty war on women’s rights of conscience and religious freedom, its indifference to the growing gap between the very rich and everyone else, its disdain for our constitutional heritage of separation of church and state, its suppression of poor and minority voters, its denial of climate change and scorn for science, its endless efforts to divert public funds to faith-based and other special interest private schools that separate kids by religion and class, its pandering to the worst Know-Nothing elements in our society.

And all this is advanced and promoted by Reagan’s and the Bushes’ horrible appointments to the Supreme Court.

Democratic politicians, loosely clustered around the center of the spectrum, are far from perfect, but they are certainly better for our country than what the GOP has been turned into.

Edd Doerr, Silver Spring, Maryland

Turn the ‘page’

I wonder why Detroit’s more conservative paper continues to run columns and opinion pieces from so many liberals, such as Clarence Page. On Oct. 14 Page quotes Rush Limbaugh as saying that President Barack Obama has not diverted flights from western Africa because liberals think we deserve exposure to Ebola. I listened to the broadcast referred to and Limbaugh said no such thing. He was quoting a liberal commentator who suggested that since we founded Liberia we have no right to close air traffic from that country.

Page also claims a travel ban would make it more difficult to fly aid workers in and out of western Africa. But aid workers can be flown in and out on chartered aircraft without the possibility of exposing other passengers to the virus.

William J. McCann, Birmingham