Preach on! It is true – the GOP has indeed declared a war on many specific demographics. The College Republican President’s outright, and mindless, bashing of the Occupy movement is merely a reflection of what the GOP has been pushing. The Fresno State Collegian’s constant censoring of news for non GOP affiliated folks is another example. Heck, even the open hate our ASI President Selena Farnesi has carried against Mexican Americans can be seen as a reflection of GOP policy. I can easily provide countless more examples.

I read this letter with something of bemusement. This is because four years ago, when I was a graduate student at Fresno State, Barack Obama was running for president. I taught both Republican and Democrat students, as well as members of the Libertarian, Green and Peace and Freedom parties. I respected my students who were not the same political affiliation as myself, because one of the great things about America is freedom of speech. On election day, I wore an Obama shirt proudly, while some students wore McCain shirts, and one young lady wore a shirt with Sarah Palin pictured as the statue of liberty. What dismays me about this letter to the editor is that you use the same illogical and uncivil rhetoric towards those who someone has told you are your enemies, such as the Occupy movement. I would highly suggest that you read the works of Dr. Michael Rosenberg, a psychologist who pioneered nonviolent communication. He discusses “enemy images.” We are all susceptible to them, because we are all inundated by a 24 hour news cycle, the internet, the “lame stream” media (to borrow a phrase from your Ms. Palin), not to mention the parochialism of our parents’ political views, or what our pastor or priest might tell us at church.
I will be honest with you. I am a lifelong Democrat. I can remember Ronald Reagan as a child, and my memories of him are not positive, because I grew up in a working class family, where my parents often paid more taxes than those who made much more money, the supposed “job creators.” One of the major problems in our society today, which is a direct inheritance from your Mr. Ronald Reagan is materialism. You are likely too young to ever recall the 1980s. It was an era in which Gordon Gecco declared “Greed is Good” in the film “Wall Street.” Many took this as a personal mantra, not a warning. Look at the results.
I would also like you to know that I am a committed Christian, who reads my Bible frequently. I attended a Jesuit, Roman Catholic university where social justice was taught. I spent what little free time I had typically working with senior citizens, cleaning up beaches, tutoring children in Watts, and working with young people at Central Juvenile Hall in Los Angeles. Those memories are my most precious from my undergrad years.
However, I am saddened by the war that your party seems to have declared on people who are Muslim, Gay, Lesbian, Transgender or Bisexual, women who are feminists, the poor, the working class, and Mexican Americans. Not to mention powerful, smart and forthright black women like Michelle Obama. I’ve read the rhetoric and seen the cartoons.
I extend an olive branch to you, and members of the Republican Party. I would like you to know that I value your party’s part in American history. I would like to see more young Republicans evolve, as Barry Goldwater, the great senator (and presidential candidate) from Arizona did before his death. He, a westerner who believed in privacy rights, spoke out in support of the gay community. I wish he were alive today. He was the real deal as far as a Western Republican goes. Ronald Reagan was just a bad actor, who was good at delivering the right lines.