Many Republicans are playing for the wrong team

Submitted by Dona Becker
Posted 4/14/22

Dear Editor:

Shame on me for not keeping up with reading the papers that come to our house so I could have responded earlier and shame on Phil Anthony for his letter to the editor on March 24. …

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Many Republicans are playing for the wrong team

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Dear Editor:

Shame on me for not keeping up with reading the papers that come to our house so I could have responded earlier and shame on Phil Anthony for his letter to the editor on March 24. Since Mr. Anthony admits to not being a Republican, and in that case has probably never been to a GOP meeting, he has a lot of gall calling fellow citizens names. 

Since you haven’t been to the meetings, sir, you have no idea of the veracity of any statements that were made about such county meetings during the GOP convention. So when you talk about jackbooted thugs, protofascists and misinformation, you do not know what you are talking about.

It’s funny. Whenever I hear Republicans called those things, it’s by people who want to shut down thought and free speech. Oddly enough that is the exact opposite of what the Republican platform calls for. Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary says that fascists exalt nation and race above the individual; stand for a centralized, autocratic government; and want severe economic and social regimentation, along with the forcible suppression of opposition. Clearly, what you said about those at the convention is incorrect. 

When you look at our platform, you’ll see that 11 of the 12 points in the platform talk about the individual and clearly express our desire to have limited government, which is the opposite of the cited definition of fascist. 

The problem is when people with an R behind their names go against their own platform, whether in a GOP county meeting or in the Legislature. If you look at WyoRino.com, you’ll see everyone in red who votes against their stated platform more than 70% of the time and the percentage of the times they follow it. For example, someone in red with a 30% after their name, only follows the team platform they say they play for 30% of the time.

If a player for the Wyoming Cowboys made 70% of their touchdowns for the opposing team, they’d get kicked off the team and no one would bat an eye. Why is it OK for people supposedly playing for the Republican team to vote with the Democrat team 70% of the time? Was that what voters expected the people they voted for on the Republican ballot to do? I don’t think so. If they’d wanted someone who played for the other team, they would have voted Democrat in the first place. 

Considering that Eric Barlow, the Republican representative from Campbell County, only votes with the Republican Party platform 10% of the time, can you blame Tim Lasseter for not wanting him to “participate in the process”? Dan Dockstader at least votes with the platform 60% of the time, but considering that he is president of the Senate and the Republicans are supposed to have control of the Senate, he should be doing better.

With friends like these, who needs enemies? What good does it do for them to call themselves Republican? Voters expect that Republicans ARE Republican and will vote consistent with the REPUBLICAN platform, since that is what defines a Republican.

Everything has a definition. Cherry Coke does not taste like Mountain Dew. If it did, it would be mislabeled. Sadly, that’s what we find with many in the Republican Party. They are mislabeled and playing for the wrong team. 

As you can see, yes, those things were said at the convention but there were very valid reasons for those comments. Hopefully these additional facts will change your interpretation. 

Dona Becker

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