INDIVIDUALS: Not welcome in GOP

A few days ago I received an email from Tom Luna, chairman of the Idaho Republican Party. In it he stated that he has been notified that “mainstream” Republicans are encouraging Democrats to register as Republicans so they can vote in the primary.

Who can blame Democrats for doing so? Elections, at least here in the north, are decided in the primary. If your voice is to be heard you have to vote in the closed primary.

Mr. Luna goes on to say that Republicans should be wary of the party being infiltrated. To which I would respond, it has already been infiltrated.

On Oct. 30, Stephen Bruno of Dalton Gardens wrote an excellent My Turn piece about what has happened to the Republican Party. In the article he, like me, bemoans the absence of common courtesy and mutual respect in political exchanges.

Today you have to be in total lockstep with the “Republican” platform or you are shoved aside. The GOP used to be a party of individuals who wanted to be left alone to live life as they saw fit and they wanted a party that would protect their right to do so. Brent Regan, chair of the local party, earlier this year celebrated the fact that when he took his delegation to the state convention, they all voted exactly the same on every issue.

How sad. Not an individual in the bunch.

BRAD CORKILL

Cataldo