As much as I agree with S.E. Cupp’s commentary on the current Republican meltdown in Washington (“Kevin McCarthy’s reign as House speaker ended like it started - under Matt Gaetz’s thumb”), she is trying to gaslight us on the intellectual roots of the party. The GOP was not founded on the libertarianism of F.A. Hayek but rather quite the opposite.
The Republican Party was launched to use the power of the federal government to end slavery and expand opportunities for the less privileged, including free land for struggling farmers through the Homestead Act and access to higher education through land-grant colleges.
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Under Abraham Lincoln, the Republicans had no qualms about greatly expanding government authority as they battled the treason of slave power. Under Ulysses S. Grant, they extended it further as they sought justice for the formerly enslaved. Yet the party would turn its back on those values in 1876, in desperation to retain its hold on the presidency, by agreeing to dismantle Reconstruction.
Ever since, power rather than principle has been its driving motive, and the embrace of the writings of Ayn Rand and Milton Friedman ... just so much window dressing. The current debacle is only the end result of a party without a soul.
John D. Cameron, West Ridge
Seeing red over Abbott’s political stunt
I’m seeing quite a lot of reporting about the dozens of buses being sent by Gov. Greg Abbott from Texas to Chicago, filled with thousands of asylum seekers from the southern border.
Few reporters seem to acknowledge how outrageous it is that Texas is doing this. Texas receives federal funding to manage the influx of asylum seekers, and they’re just carting off their responsibility to northern cities. Where is our federal funding? Not only should we receive more, but Texas should receive less for sending migrants away.
It looks like they thought we would make these buses turn around and prove to the nation that sanctuary cities don’t care about migrants. But we are doing what we can to accommodate them and spending tens of millions of dollars to set up temporary housing.
Congress should seriously consider revoking some of the immigration funding sent to these red states. They can’t keep getting away with this ridiculous, cruel political stunt.
Will Gaudet, Edgewater
