Substitution of truth and reason

Dear editor,

I would like to respond to a Nov. 23 article by Jay Kim, “Why did I choose the Republic Party?” It seems that Kim has learned his American history from the text books published by the Republican-backed educators from Texas (the ones who claim the hero status of Rush Limbaugh and deny evolution and global warming). I wish to correct the errors presented in his article.

First, Thomas Jefferson was not, as Kim claims, a “devout Christian.” At best Jefferson was a deist who edited the Bible to remove all references to any miraculous events, including the resurrection, a basic tenant of the Christian faith.

Second, the Republican Party was not “established by Abraham Lincoln in 1860,” it was founded early by a group which included Abraham Lincoln (along with Seward, Chase, Bates, and Weed), the guiding principles of this offshoot from the Whig Party were; a national bank, tariffs, large investment of federal funds for transportation and communication (Lincoln as a former boatman complained that logs in the waterways prevented effective transport by the vast river network), and in preventing additional slave states form joining the Union.

Third, the Civil War was not “fought to end slavery,” rather it was fought to see if the South (Confederacy) would be allowed to succeed from the Union. Slavery was certainly a key issue, but Lincoln and his cabinet avoided the linking of the war with emancipation fearing desertions and political opposition.

Fourth, U.S. income tax rates were never set at 70 percent under Carter or anyone else.

Fifth, U.S. farms in California have been bringing in farm laborers from Latin America for nearly 70 years, in the late 1940s and the early 1950s there was a guest worker policy.

One of the reasons I have distanced myself from the Republican Party is their substitution of truth and reason of strong convictions.

George Fisher