Poor John Cline; he seems to be unhappy that La Conner Weekly News isn’t in lockstep with the right-wing element of his preferred political party. I don’t know John, but if I did here are a few questions that I would pose to him. Each of these talking points is prefaced with the question; Are you proud of your affiliation with the GOP for any of these facts of historic events?

George W. Bush’s fifteen year incursion into Iraq in search of weapons of mass destruction, where nearly 5,000 U.S. service members lost their lives, began in 2003. The number of Iraqis has never been established, but the estimate is thought to be 500,000 civilians. Then we wandered over into Afghanistan for more war, where nearly 2,400 U.S. service members died and the number of innocent civilians has never been established.

Bush didn’t stop there. He and the NRA understood the political power of fear, intimidation and the use of military weapons (AR-15) to stir the imagination of those who became fascinated with high-powered firearms. Just like that, gun sales soared and became synonymous with supporting the military.

This is the (insane) political path that we find ourselves on today. More than 300,000 students have experienced gun violence (in their classrooms!) since the massacre at Columbine High School in 1999. Surely common sense gun laws should take those children’s lost lives into account, but no or little change has come out of the Republican side of the aisle for way too long. Lots of support for the unborn fetus, but none for the young and innocent victims of gun violence.

Donald Trump wasn’t in favor of war, but he made it well known that he viewed women as “underlings” and second class citizens and spoke of Black athletes as SOBs for expressing their constitutional rights of freedom of speech or freedom of expression.

Then he went on to load the Supreme Court with conservative “activist judges” that are making a series of stunning mockeries of their political aspirations.

These will have a negative effect on America for a long time.

But, to really get the full view of Trump is to watch his behavior since losing the election to Joe Biden.

Some call it “wanting to stay in power,” but those who can smell a rat when it is in the room would call it an “attempted coup” and “seditious insurrection,” which is a felonious act.

Do these facts have any bearing as to your proud nepotism? If so, you have what I would call a rather myopic view of what we as a nation aspire to.

As for the title the editor gave to your letter, that Republicans haven’t been given a chance, they seem to be doing well by gerrymandering political districts and suppressing voter rights in red states.

In closing, I would answer your question “what are we going to do about it?” I have felt for many years that our two party system was doing its best to kill democracy.

I think we are locked in a battle of brinkmanship that requires teamwork to solve.

Be sure to vote! Thank you.

Collinge, a long time La Conner resident, owned the 1890s on South First Street. He now lives in Anacortes