Jun 3, 2021 3 min read

After reading Star Parker’s May 27 op-ed, I feel compelled to respond. In her piece she attempts to paint Republicans as pro-family and Democrats as big spenders who are “destroying our country.” As these are standard Republican talking points I can’t say that I am surprised; however, blanket statements as these are easy to disprove with good old-fashioned facts.

Big spenders? A fair way to judge this is to look at increases in the U.S. deficit by presidential party going back to Jimmy Carter. If we aggregate the numbers under Republican presidents the deficit has increased by about $16 trillion. Under Democrats the deficit has increased about $8.5 trillion. So who is the party of big spending?

Parker states that Republicans are the “pro-family” party. Really? So why has income inequality increased under Republican presidents and decreased under Democratic? The reason is simple: Republicans like to give their rich donors big tax cuts while we in the middle class tend to get small decreases (throw the dog a bone) that do not even keep up with inflation. The middle class continues to shrink as more and more hard-working Americans fall out of it. As far as the poor we should be ashamed as a professed Christian country in how hard their lives are. Tax cuts on wealthy Americans does nothing to aid the economy and only continues to widen the gap between rich and poor.

So if you follow the Republican orthodoxy you believe that lower taxes means better economic performance and that Republicans are better stewards of the economy. Once again the facts prove this wrong. According to a Times study looking at increases in GDP going back to 1933 the GDP averaged a growth rate of 2.4% under Republican presidents and 4.6% under Democratic administrations. If the economy grew at the rate it did under Democratic presidents for the entire period the average Americans income would be roughly double today.

Lastly, if you look at the past six months, you will see a riot at the Capitol in the attempt to throw out the results of the election that was egged on by the leader of the Republican Party. Five people lost their lives. Republicans are blocking any investigation into the causes of this treason. Odd since they were all about investigating Benghazi but not an attack on our own government. You also see Republicans trying to make it harder for traditional Democratic voters to cast their vote. Some Republican-run legislatures are trying to give themselves the right to deny the rights of voters and overturn election results they don’t like. So much for the Constitution and our democracy.

I am not trying to say Democrats are all good and Republicans all bad; both parties have issues that do not often do what is best for the average American. However, I do believe that Democrats’ initiatives give average Americans a better chance to achieve their dreams.

John Opal

West Middletown