When it comes to politics, Butler County is “stuck in the mud” of provincialism, proven by the fact that 80% of Butler Countians voted for Donald Trump in 2016.

Letters to the editor of the Butler Eagle reveal that many conservatives write with a proprietary contempt for those who oppose their politics.

- Socialism is what the Democratic party is trying to force upon us. Are we doomed to now have it infest our nation?

Response: America’s forefathers defined socialism as “we the people.” Right wing extremists in America purposely confuse socialism with fascism and communism. Today, we are a nation of haves and have nots. At the same time, the disparity of income inequality continues to widen, while life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness remain promises to be reckoned with.

- Trump is creating jobs and increasing personal income at a rate we haven’t seen since the Reagan era. I don’t care if I wake-up tomorrow and the entire Democratic party and its radical cronies disappeared from the face of the earth.

Response:It was the Democrats who ruled the House and Senate for most of the years from 1933 to the end of the glorious and prosperous 20th century. Reagan, Bush II and Trump reversed all that, enhancing the money coffers of the rich with countless trillions of dollars in tax cuts, over four decades.

- It really was Obama that blew it! He had both majorities of the House and Senate, but opted to deliberately drive conservatives and liberals further apart and we wouldn’t be here today on the brink of a civil war.

Response:In October 2008, the greatest economic depression in 80 years occurred. Then, President Obama won the 2008 election. Soon, he restored a sound economy to America. Beginning in 2010, fickle-minded voters saddled him with a Republican House and Senate, for the next six years. Senate leader Mitch McConnell halted the president’s agenda. When Obama resorted to executive orders, Republicans threatened impeachment.

- A liberal writer offered this 11-01-17: “Last week, the Republican Senate passed a budget that cuts Medicare by $500 billion and Medicaid by one trillion dollars. So, who are these people that keep voting for billionaires? They are the chickens that believed the fox when he said, “oh, please let me into the hen house. I only want to help you drain the swamp and I promise not to eat you. And even now, people support Trump even as they themselves are being eaten alive, the epitome of gullibility.”

Response:In December 2017, a month after this letter was published, Trump awarded America’s wealthiest, and corporate America $1.5 trillion in tax cuts, off the backs of the middle class.

Summary: Currently, Trump wants to cut payroll taxes that fund social security, ending recipients benefits in three years (imagine the economic upheaval to follow.) A vital Medicare provider increased “out of pocket” expense in our town from $3400 in 2020,to $7,500 in 2021. The affordable care act is now before a stacked Republican Supreme Court, a Trump health care death wish, with no plan to replace it. This scenario provides a clear and present danger for struggling Americans, millions of whom will vote for their own demise on Nov. 3. The consequences are dire. Yet, too many affected, “still don’t get it.”

Summary: Once upon a time in America, during the Great Depression and World War II, the greatest generation of Americans conquered 15 years of fear and adversity, to then prosper and capture the American dream. Their children followed, contributing and thriving in a more friendly gentler country, for decades to come, as compared with the relentless riff-raff dished-out by disreputable leaders, today. This November, cast your vote for your survival, and not for a squandering, tax dodging billionaire.

Gino Mariotti, Butler