Letter: Hey, GOP

Graphic by Lori Deaton

Hey, there. We are the “other America.” We are all around you, from the mountains to the Piedmont to the coastline of North Carolina.

When you are silent, we speak out.

Dare come to a town hall, and we’ll show up.

We are all the colors of the rainbow, and we are Rainbow Proud.

We have zero tolerance for racism, hate and fearmongering.

We are people of faith: Christians, Bautistas, Muslims, Jews, Natives, Witnesses and Unitarians. We worship everywhere, and we believe the words of many, many prophets.

We are “hardworking Americans,” some of us scraping by and some of us more prosperous. But none of us prosper while anyone suffers, even the folks who voted for you.

When we heard about the chanting at Trump’s rally in North Carolina, we cringed. Don’t get us wrong — we do chant. But we chant about uniting vs. dividing America. You won’t see us at MAGA rallies, but we are deeply concerned about making America better.

Yes, we are patriots.

Show us your patriotism. Have a heart. We’re right here in North Carolina, and we can’t abide your silence any longer.

We are exhausted, cynical and angry. We can’t stand to watch the news anymore. We’ve had #enough of your doublespeak. But we lift each other up, and, oh, we are energized! Si se puede! While you are busy upholding our Second Amendment rights, remember this: We are bulletproof.

Like we say here in the mountains: “How’s your day going so far?” Because your days in office are numbered.

We’re Southerners. When you cross us, there’ll be hell to pay. You might not see us, but we’re coming for you on Election Day.

— Leslie Gaidi-Schunk
Fairview

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29 thoughts on “Letter: Hey, GOP

  1. mcates

    “We are the “other America.””

    So in other words, you are separating yourself in an act of divisiveness. Not particularly an act of inclusion.

    “We have zero tolerance for racism, hate and fearmongering.”

    You actually come across as bigoted and hateful.

    “But we chant about uniting vs. dividing America.”

    Your entire LTE is about dividing, so that’s kind of ironic.

    “Have a heart. ”

    So let me get this straight… you think those who disagree with you don’t have a heart. How about you just stop it with the casting of judgement and hate-mongering.

    “When you cross us, there’ll be hell to pay. ”

    And now you are threatening those that have an opinion different than your own.

    Your entire LTE is one big cringe.

    • bsummers

      How about you just stop it with the casting of judgement and hate-mongering.

      Pretty rich coming from the guy who calls Asheville “the heart of enemy territory”.

        • mcates

          “And that they need to “strike a blow from the inside.”

          Yeah, I was wrong about that. It needed to happen from the outside in Raleigh.

          However, the context was that people on the Right need to stop sitting back and taking the hate hurled by the Left. Context matters to some.

      • mcates

        “Pretty rich coming from the guy who calls Asheville “the heart of enemy territory”.”

        I suppose if you twist what I said and take it out of context, one can conclude that.

        However, my comment was based on the reality that the Left (in Asheville and around the country) has spent decades vilifying people on the Right, while treating ANYONE that disagrees with them like an enemy that MUST be attacked. You spent years doing EXACTLY that.

        My comment was based in the context of the need to push back against being treated like an enemy, but you already knew that.

        • bsummers

          A few years ago, Tim Moffitt & Chuck McGrady’s bill to try to seize Asheville’s water was going through the courts. Tim (or someone close to him – can’t find it just now) put out this list of transgressions that supposedly “proved” that Asheville deserved to lose the water system. It went back decades, but the last item was sadly hilarious: the fact that Asheville had filed suit to try to keep the water system. That was unfair, dirty pool, bad behavior, in the minds of GOPers who thought they had Asheville on the ropes – the fact that the City was fighting back.

          The really sad thing, Mark, is that you thought that calling Asheville “the heart of enemy territory” would get you elected to City Council. You were very surprised when the voters said ‘no thanks’.

          • mcates

            “The really sad thing, Mark, is that you thought that calling Asheville “the heart of enemy territory” would get you elected to City Council.”

            1) You are still being dishonest about the context.
            2) It’s absurd to think that any Republican thought they were likely to win an election in a politically one-sided city like Asheville.

            Your comment further highlights your inability to engage in an honest conversation.

            “You were very surprised when the voters said ‘no thanks’.”

            You really are incapable of being honest, aren’t you? No one has been surprised that a Republican has not been elected in Asheville since 2007. The fact that a Republican won in 2007 was a surprise and that was most likely due to the one issue of annexation.

            The surprise for me was:

            1) How well I actually did.
            2) How hateful the Asheville Left is.

            Granted #2 should not have been much of a surprise, but it was and always still is.

        • NFB

          “However, my comment was based on the reality that the Left (in Asheville and around the country) has spent decades vilifying people on the Right, while treating ANYONE that disagrees with them like an enemy that MUST be attacked.”

          Well, let’s see. For 8 years the right in this country insisted that the duly elected president was a terrorist who was not born in the United States, and secretly a Muslim. At many tea party rallies he was hung in effigy.

          https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&ei=MhRoXZ_QA8Ga_QbShYPYDw&q=effigy+obama+hung&oq=effigy+obama+hung&gs_l=psy-ab.3…9307.12093..12335…0.0..0.182.1062.7j4……0….1..gws-wiz…….0j0i131.OI_tlN7s4Uw&ved=0ahUKEwifsaPx1ajkAhVBTd8KHdLCAPsQ4dUDCAo&uact=5

          Rush Limbaugh uses terms like”feminazis” to demonize people who disagree with him, while many on the right, Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, etc. regularly call anyone not in agreement with them as “traitors,” “godless,” and “evil.”

          New Gingrich refers to Democrats as “the enemy of normal people,” and let’s not even get into Trump’s Twitter account and his calling of people who disagree with them the enemy.

          Political polarization is a serious problem and will do long term detrimental damage to the country, but to pretend that only the left engages in demonization of its opponents is absurd.

          • C-Law

            You are 100% correct about the polarization. The Republic ended in 1861 regardless of which “side” one believes was justified in the war and aftermath, the bottom line is that the Constitution of 1787 was destroyed in order to preserve the “Union.” The USA has operated as an ever expanding industrial and military empire ever since…aggressive abroad and despotic at home.

            The polarization you speak of is real, and an indicator of how fallen the Empire is, and the imminent collapse we as subjects (not citizens) face.

            We are at an impasse. I argue the centralized Federal Empire can no longer be maintained…financially, morally, and without the consent of the people.

            Devolution of centralized power and a recall of our far-flung and over-extended military forces are the only solutions I see that allow a peaceful resolution to the impasse and inevitable collapse of the Empire, and collapse it certainly will…will it be bloody, chaotic, and violent beyond imagining? Or possibly reasonably peaceful and ordered?

          • mcates

            “Well, let’s see. For 8 years the right in this country insisted that the duly elected president was a terrorist”

            A terrorist? Who?

            “who was not born in the United States, and secretly a Muslim.”

            You mean the campaign started by Hillary Clinton. She’s not a Republican last time I checked.

            “At many tea party rallies he was hung in effigy.”

            Your own link doesn’t appear to support that. They aren’t Tea Party events and seem to be the work of about 10 fringe crazy people whose hate should also be rejected.

            Did you miss the big billboard in downtown Asheville of George W. Bush in a sniper’s cross-hairs? Maybe you missed Bush being hung in effigy? Those actually were done by the core of the Democratic Party. The biggest difference is that people on the Right are willing to publicly reject that type of hate. Unlike, Mayor Manheimer & the Buncombe County Democratic Party turning a blind eye to the hate & violence spewed by their supporters at the Trump event.

            “Political polarization is a serious problem and will do long term detrimental damage to the country, but to pretend that only the left engages in demonization of its opponents is absurd.”

            No need to convince me that people on the Right have adopted the tactics of people on the Left. That’s the new paradigm.

          • Mike

            I agree 100% with C-Law. I hope we can manage the dissolution reasonably peacefully, as did the former USSR.

      • Lulz

        LOL so you’re in favor of city ran by elitist and mentally ill morons who are controlled by corporate interests? Funny to see when you come on here and whine again when another hotel is approved. Or better yet, celebrate the homeless sleeping in doorways downtown and call it progress. Or ain’t it funny that xoress keeps writing about low profit margins in restaurants. But ain’t it funny how multiple restaurants are owned by the same people? Hmm such bastions of high pay. Say when does the city throw its weight around to shame them into paying decent wages? Never. It ain’t enemy territory. It’s a lie and a scan..

    • Enlightened Enigma

      Excellent response MCates! this letter illuminates the hate from the leftwing progressives who demand CONTROL. We don’t give that to democrackkks in NC ever again.

    • John M Carver

      Subject: Little Biblical Philosophy
      Something I learned in Bible study…

      In this crazy political season, I decided a little religion
      might be appropriate so here is a short Bible study.

      Remember what Jesus said: ‘Goats on the left, sheep
      on the right’ (Matthew 25:33).

      Jesus also told Peter that if he wanted to catch fish
      do it from the right side of the boat. They did and
      filled the boat with fish.

      John 21:6 (NIV) … He said, “Throw your net on the
      right side of the boat and you will find some.” When
      they did, they were unable to haul the net in because
      of the large number of fish. ”

      Origin of Left & Right…I have often wondered why it
      is that Conservatives are called the right” and
      Liberals are called the “left”.

      By chance I stumbled upon this verse in the Bible:
      Ecclesiastes 10:2 (NIV) – “The heart of the wise
      inclines to the right, but the heart of the fool to the
      left.” Thus, sayeth the Lord. Amen.

      JC

      • bsummers

        Well, there it is. God told us to be Republican. How could we be so blind? I mean, the word “right” means both Conservative, and correct. They’ve actually spelled it out for you, sheeple!! Get down to the BOE and change your registration to ‘R’ before the end-times come!!!

      • Godslayer

        Learn some history, Christer. The terms “left” and “right” came from the French government, where liberals sat on the left side of the legislature and conservatives sat on the right. It has nothing to do with the Buy-Bull.

  2. mcates

    “We’re Southerners.”

    Your Facebook page says you are from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and attended Minnetonka High School in Minnesota.

    If one is going to lie, then they should at least be smarter about it.

      • mcates

        “Now tell us that naturalized citizens are not Americans.”

        I can’t because there are. There’s literally an application, process and requirements one must meet.

        Being a “Southerner” is not a matter of law, but heritage. So your “point” helps make mine. Thanks.

        The writer of the LTE appears to have intentionally misled readers and the fact you are trying to distract from her dishonest, only highlights the truth of that.

        • luther blissett

          ‘Being a “Southerner” is not a matter of law, but heritage.’

          Says who? Who died to make you Pope of the South?

          • bsummers

            Why, the Papal (southern pronunciation of ‘people’) Conclave, of course.

          • mcates

            “Says who? Who died to make you Pope of the South?”

            Leave to the Left to defend someone who is lying. Regardless, common sense says it and you know it.

  3. Enlightened Enigma

    still it IS a HILARIOUS letter! just hilarious… putting it on FB…

      • Phillip C Williams

        Why would you do that? Do you not want more people to read it? Just wondering. I am no legal-eagle, so I didn’t realize that letters to the editor could not be shared in anything but the original forum….

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