by Mary Fahnestock-Thomas, Hamilton
A letter in the Star of 3/1/23 says Republicans have always been the good guys and Democrats the bad. Another blames President Biden for what the writer regards as our country’s major problems. Both letters are based on faulty or inadequate information and/or research.
In fact, our main political parties basically switched ideologies between the 1860s and the 1930s. “Small government” Democrats, i.e. wealthy plantation owners and others, gradually became the party of the common man, believing that the whole point of government is to level the playing field to benefit ALL Americans. Meanwhile, and especially since the 1980s, the Republican Party has increasingly encouraged wealth and privilege to rise to the top while the rest of us get along as best we can and the government confines itself to defense and infrastructure.
And in fact, Mr. Biden is doing a pretty remarkable job of tidying up messes left for him by others and is also rebuilding our country’s reputation as a world leader, which deteriorated sadly during the previous administration. I won’t get more specific because all of this information is readily available on the net in all kinds of places if you know how to look and are open to thinking possibly new thoughts.
Old history textbooks really don’t cut it, because although history doesn’t change, we know more about it and its ramifications as time goes by, and our perspective may change as we grow and age. And did you notice that the Fox “News” people, from star commentators on up to Rupert Murdoch himself, just recently admitted knowing that Biden won the 2020 election fair and square but were too afraid of losing their audience to admit it?
If your mind and heart are really open and you are not afraid, take a look at the media bias chart at https://www.allsides.com/media-bias/media-bias-chart and dare to check out some sources that may challenge your thinking. There is perhaps a better but more complicated one at https://adfontesmedia.com/gallery/. Ultimately we all sink or swim together, and we all benefit by realizing that.