Dear Editor,

We are going to vote next month for a man or woman who will represent the highest office in our nation and perhaps the world, and yet we are still voting like our parents and grandparents did at the turn of the century. There are several differences between the two parties that dominate our political process.

The Republican Party started just prior to the Civil War to abolish slavery, while the Democratic Party was for slavery and wanted to keep that scourge of our nation going. In fact, the Democratic Party at that time endorsed the KKK, which many of you will find ironic since most African-Americans are Democrats.

The Republican Party and the Democratic Party are in favor of cutting taxes, however, there are some differences. The Democrats want to cut taxes for the middle class and lower class but raise taxes on the rich. The Republicans want to cut taxes for all classes.

The Democrats believe that the government should take care of its citizens by furnishing welfare programs, which bloat our government and raise taxes to pay for those programs. They feel that they should tax large corporations and the rich to provide for programs. Republicans believe that if you tax corporations too much, it hinders growth with fewer jobs. Big business means many jobs and big government means fewer jobs.

Republicans believe that it is our right to bear arms, especially against a totalitarian government. They believe that the government should protect us from foreign invasion and we should pay for the military branches of service to do that.

In recent decades, the Republicans have been known as the more conservative party and the Democratic Party is known as a more liberal or leftist party, meaning that the Republicans tend to shun abortion on demand, gun control, gay marriage, etc., while the Democrats want to have stricter laws curtailing rights for people to bear arms, allow gay marriage, abortion on demand (even until the third trimester), and recently have advocated for transgender restrooms.

Marilyn Daugherty

Junction City