My Point of View by John Forman

 

I would like to invite everyone to visit the Freeborn County Republican Party election headquarters at 212 S. Broadway in Albert Lea. We welcome people from all parties and hope everyone will get a chance to visit. We hope everyone will look at and review what their state and national party leaders are saying and see if you feel they are moving in a direction you can support.

The Republican Party is a big tent party and all are welcome. We support free speech for all, even those who have different opinions. Democrat leaders encourage their people to try to break up meetings of people where someone might say things they don’t agree with. Conservative speakers are banned from college campuses, or, if they are allowed to speak, people who want to hear what they are saying are forced to run a gauntlet of protesters — some are even paid to protest at political rallies. Here in Minnesota, Democratic leaders have asked Republican representatives for town meetings, not to have a free discussion of ideas but to send people to yell down speakers to set up media frenzies. Have you ever heard of Republicans yelling down Democratic-elected officials? Democratic Party leaders appear to support free speech, but only for those who agree with them. Republicans want people to have freedom to make choices in their lives, but Democratic leaders like Nancy Pelosi call for their followers to vigorously confront people of the Republican Party who they do not agree with — even encouraging denial of service as they try to have a meal out with their families.

The Republican Party supports our laws and our law enforcement officers. Democratic Party leaders say they support law enforcement but then create sanctuary cites where illegal immigrants are protected from federal authorities. Republican Party leaders know the need for border enforcement to protect not only our citizens but also immigrants who are taken advantage of by smugglers and drug runners. Democratic Party leaders want open borders with no background checks and to allow everyone in and then send back the felons after they have committed their crimes. Past Democratic presidents have spoken of the need for strong borders, but present Democratic leaders seem to think the politically smart thing to do is to ignore past presidents’ viewpoints on this issue. Some Democrats are even calling for the end of the ICE agency and their enforcement of immigration laws.

Republican policies have resulted in lower unemployment rates for all groups regardless of race. Productivity is up, and the economy is growing at a rate that was considered unachievable by past President Obama. Democratic Party leaders want to repeal tax breaks, calling them just the scraps, reinstate job killing regulations and return to slow growth. Republican leaders want to appoint judges who interpret laws and follow the constitution. Democrats in our state and at the national level want activist judges who make laws rather than interpreting laws and following the Constitution.

Races for federal offices are important to maintaining the direction of our economy and maintaining strong borders. We have a chance in southern Minnesota to help elect two Republican senators: Karin Housley and Jim Newberger. We can elect Jim Hagedorn as our congressional 1st District representative.

State races are just as important. We need to elect Jeff Johnson as governor so we have a governor who works with the House and Senate, as opposed to how Dayton worked against them. Democrats have controlled some statewide offices for decades, using them for political advantage, especially during elections. We need to elect Doug Wardlow as attorney general. He will keep an eye on state issues like welfare fraud, rather than chasing headlines on federal issues like the Democratic candidate plans to do. We need to elect Pam Myra as state auditor. She will work with counties to save money, while auditing state programs to make sure the taxpayer is getting their proper returns from these programs.

We need John Howe as secretary of state to get politics out of this office.

Here in our local area, we need to re-elect Peggy Bennett as House 27A state representative. Peggy has followed her campaign pledge to put people before politics. She welcomes your input either in person or electronically.

Remember, all are welcome to visit our Republican headquarters on Broadway, and all are welcome to join the big tent (free speech for all) Republican Party.

John Forman is a member of the Freeborn County Republican Party.