Disgruntled Republicans invited to Democratic Club meetings

As a former Republican voter (albeit a moderate), I share Robert F. Green’s sentiments in his December 1 letter, lamenting the loss of Republican real conservative “pay-as-you-go” (balanced budget), smaller yet effective government, rebuilding international respect by sensible (not arrogant) leadership, attention to domestic national security rather than nation building, attacking “real” challenges like global warming, dependency on foreign oil, sensible solutions to the social security funding, avoiding the train wreck of Medicare, national security from terrorists, et cetera.

Robert, you may want to come to a Democratic Club meeting, held the first Thursday of every month at the Fallbrook Public Utilities District Building, 990 East Mission Road. Although some of us Democrats are proud of Liberal leanings, none of us are “far left Socialists or Communists.” Most of us are centrists.

We love our country just as much as we did as Republicans and we proudly support our military. We are appalled at the recent cuts in veteran medical benefits. We support a balanced budget and a sensible tax structure, not one that rewards corporate greed. (We are not “tax and spend” advocates.) We are for trimming welfare costs and fraud. We are people of faith who respect religions but do not believe that any religion should control government policies. Some of us do believe in a woman’s right to choose, some don’t, but none of us support “abortion on demand.” Most of us believe that stem cell research does not kill babies but contributes to the research which will help save lives and heal living people. We believe that the United States is a “one-of-a-kind” nation that should be governed within the laws, rather than by a one party Executive, Legislative and Judicial branch.

You will be surprised, as I was, that there is more common ground among Democrats and real Republicans (not the neo-cons) than you think. I invite all disgruntled Republicans to come to the next meeting on January 4. The coffee is on us. All are welcome to speak and discuss ideas. Maybe together, we can help America regain the stature it rightly deserves.

Jerry Sarnataro