To My Friends and Relatives

Friends and Relatives,

For most of my life, I have been a detached observer of politics. I've voted more Democratic, than Republican, but I have voted for two Republican candidates for president, and by temperament I have sought the center where I could make an informed choice between two competing alternatives.

With the recent spectacle of the passage and opposition to the heath care bill and the election of a radically conservative House of Representatives, it became clear that my traditional centrist position is no longer tenable. The Republican party has become dominated by a propaganda machine financed by the extremely wealthy. Its stated goals are to dismantle the active and assertive government that grew out of the catastrophe of the Great Depression and dominated American Politics from the 1930s until 1980. So successful has this propaganda machine been, that Democrats seem embarrassed to stand up for what their party has achieved. As for you Republicans, you need to get back on firmer ground. It's time to stop passing on misinformation and downright lies, bought and paid for by the extremely wealthy.

Two considerations oblige me to become active in opposing what I consider to be a powerful and frightening right-wing propaganda machine:

1) The Republican party is winning elections by deceit. If I believed that all those Americans voting Republican really wished to go where the Republicans are taking them, I would keep quiet and sleep easily. I don't mind being in the minority. But when I see misinformation, not to say crude lies, being presented and repeated until the average uninformed American takes it as truth, then I feel obligated to speak up.

2) I am very concerned about where our society will be in 50 years. I am not concerned about myself. This society has treated me well. My education was affordable. Steady employment has allowed me to live in a comfortable house. Social Security and Medicaid are there to make me feel comfortable about my retirement. The end results of allowing big energy pollute the environment without restriction will not be felt in full force until after my death. Tax cuts for the wealthy have led to major layoffs in our schools and police departments, but if it becomes too violent, I can just move away when I reach retirement age. But for those being born in this country today, I am very concerned.

Over the last few years, I have received a large number of e-mails from friends and family transmitting right-wing propaganda. Please continue to send them to me. I have already begun a policy of responding to them, and will continue to do so.

This is the only unsolicited political e-mail you will receive from me. My relations with most of my friends and family are a-political and I want to keep open the option of keeping it that way.

For further development of the ideas I have just expressed, please read my blog at http://donaldleach.blogspot.com/

On average, new entries will appear weekly.

To give you an idea of what I have to say, here are two blog entries.