Letter by Clifford Jackson
The Republican Party of today is a far cry from the republican party of the civil war. The “radical republicans “under the leadership of Congressman Thaddeus Stevens and Senator Charles Sumner led the fight against the evils of slavery. They along with Frederick Douglass and William lloyd Garrison and Harriet Tubman fought for the ending of slavery, all of them were responsible for passing the civil rights acts of 1866 and 1875 as well as the passage of the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments.
In the case of Charles Sumner he was beaten on the senate floor by fellow senator John C Calhoun an avowed white supremacist. This was during a time when republicans not only had standing as fighters for freedom but were in line with the constitution.
The republicans today are anathema to anything like their forbearers and are a bastion of corruption, racism and lawlessness that would make the radical republicans of the 19th century shake their heads in disgust! It started with Reagan where the republican party moved in the opposite direction of people like republican Mayor Fiorello Laguardia or republican congressman Vito Anthony Marcantonio. “Greed is good ” became a part of the republican party platform and more acceptable in this society as a whole.
The explosion of homelessness around the country is a direct result of this depravity. The Reagan tax cuts in the 1980s widened the gap between rich and poor in this society as well as the ferocious demonization of not only the poor, but to add to what Robert F. Kennedy said “the vanity of distinction, ” where people have a pseudo air of superiority over those who have less in the way of money and material possessions. This became a very American value, especially here in Larchmont.
Today’s MAGA Republican Party is insane with its level of corruption that becomes more outrageous everyday. Whether it is the confirmation of white supremacist christian nationalist like Peter Hegseth, or totally unqualified Kash Patel as FBI director and his daily exhibition of corruption, we are in the bowels of disgrace and corruption with almost every agency of government under Trump.
Trump and the republican party are looking to privatize social security and medicaid. The big beautiful bill, that will take effect next year , will allow them to loot these two socialist programs started under President Roosevelt and President Johnson respectively. The stealing of funds from these two programs, under project 2025, will be transferred to Trump’s oligarch billionaire crony’s such as those who fund AIPAC.
The cuts to medicaid and food stamps are something that Mayor Mamdani and Governor Hochul are trying to fill the gap here in NY. Half of all nursing homes are funded by medicaid. Do the math! That means that there will be some nursing homes that will have to close down with the cuts to medicaid. Planned parenthood centers are closing down as i write this because of cuts to medicaid that funds planned parenthood.
Clifford Jackson, Larchmont