In his June 22 letter Mark Agather got on quite a roll with his “anti” rant. It seems the Democrats are to blame for everything that is wrong in the world. It would be quite an indictment if it were anything but meaningless neo-con rhetoric. Long on hate and short on fact. 

On the other hand the Republican “antis” have real and dire consequences on peoples lives. Anti-Social Security, George Bush’s agenda for his second term was to “privatize and profitize” Social Security. Anti-labor, anti-worker, anti-union, the Republicans have declared war on workers for the last 40 years. No president was more anti-labor than Ronald Reagan. 

Anti-American jobs, too. About 50,000 American factories have closed in the last 20 years, costing millions of good American jobs. The Republicans subsidize those job losses with tax breakes and subsidies for companies who ship jobs to other countries. Anti-regulations — regulations on clean food and drugs, air pollution, and financial institutions have dire effects on people’s health and economic well being. Anti-affordable health care. Present Republicans want to end Medicare and Medicaid, and have voted over 50 times to repeal the ACA, with no plan to replace it. 

Anti-minimum wage. They want to end even the concept of a minimum wage. They say raising the minimum wage will hurt workers. Funny, they were able to raise their pay to $174,000 in Congress and it didn’t hurt them. Anti-equal pay for women and anti-women’s health care. Neonatal health care and cancer screenings save women’s lives. Anti-civil rights and voters’ rights. 50 years after the Civil Rights Act, at least 17 Republican states are trying to restrict voters’ rights. If you can’t win an election, rig the election. 

It’s time for blue-collar Republicans (blue-collar meaning people who really work for their living) to ask themselves, what have the Republicans ever done for me? In the 85 years since the Great Depression, not one government program, not one piece of legislation that helps the middle class and low income to succeed has come from the Republicans, not one. 

Republicans like to throw around mindless platitudes like freedom and liberty. You can’t eat platitudes, and there is no freedom without economic freedom. That means having a job with a living wage. —Tom Shaughnessy, Kalispell