Promulgation of fear and hatred...

I have lost track of the hours I have volunteered in registering voters/trying to educate others about those running for office/ urging voters to exercise their right to vote but also to volunteer to help elect the candidates who do not run on agendas of exclusion basing their arguments on fear and hatred. I am worried about the direction our country is heading and whose money is buying that direction.

This weekend a friend posted this letter from her brother which I would also like to share with you. May it speak to you of some of the issues to which this campaign is promulgating hate...

"I am 69 years old. I am a professor emeritus from Sacramento State University. I am gay. I have pancreatic cancer. I am changing my voter registration from Republican to Independent. Let me tell you why.

First of all, since my cancer diagnosis in April, 2012, I've been treated by an incredibly gifted team of cancer surgeons; anesthesiologists; oncologists; radiologists; pathologists; endocrinologists; nurses; pharmacists; laboratory technicians; social workers; and nutritionists. This incredibly knowledgeable group has provided me with surgery, radiation therapy, chemotherapy, and a wide assortment of diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. The cost of these services to date totals well over $400,000 (perhaps a partial explanation of the massive construction projects currently underway at hospitals in our region). Because of Medicare and PERS, I have not had to pay out of pocket for any of medical charges. My condition, while life-threatening, does not fall into the category of the senior abuse irrationally proclaimed by so many Republican candidates for office. I am getting better every day and progressing toward recovery because of the extraordinary medical care and the compassionate laws of the greatest country in the world, the United States of America. Given my experience, senior citizens have little cause to be anxious about their inevitable future healthcare costs.

Secondly, the Republicans have a disgraceful record in extending constitutional rights to gay American citizens. I am an American citizen legally married during the "California Window" in 2008 to Phan, my loving spouse and a citizen of Thailand. We have been together for over twenty years, fifteen of which have been spent in the United States during which Phan has earned three college degrees. We now live in fear that Phan will be deported at a time I need him most for his love and support during the terrible cancer battle. You see, since we are a bi-national same-sex couple, our marriage is not recognized by the United States government due to the Defense of Marriage Act (the so-called DOMA), a law precluding us from the immigration rights and responsibilities extended to American heterosexuals (so much for leaving the issue to States' rights). Phan is not allowed to work and we have been cash hemorrhaging with legal expenses trying to establish a more permanent relationship in the United States, a goal easily accomplished by married bi-national heterosexuals. Furthermore, our status excludes us from over 1,000 federal regulations and benefits. For example, when I die, Phan will receive no social security benefits, a program into which I have paid for over fifty years. The Republicans support a Constitutional Amendment banning same-sex marriage.

The Republican leadership has engaged in frightening seniors about health care and has cavalierly disregarded gay American citizens. For these two reasons, I am cancelling my Republican voter registration. I will maintain my fiscal conservative views, but I will no longer participate in the politics of hate and fear. In a very real sense, I am not abandoning the Republican party; the Republicans have abandoned me.

May the future of our great country be as great as its past, and may all of us survive despite the current political opportunism of negativism, fear, and hate."

AND may I add words uttered by President Obama the day he came to Madison and spoke to a group of about 40,000: Don't BOO, VOTE.