Letter: Republicans must right the ship

The greatest tragedy in our national election is the bare wound it exposed in our collective. Millions were abandoned over recent decades by jobs sent overseas, low wages, lack of health care and a mortgage crisis. Each of us was responsible as we demanded lower prices, lower taxes, more dramatic medical care. When the largest employer in the United States (Wal-Mart) paid unliveable wages and offered no benefits, we knew this was wrong, yet we demanded Chinese goods at rock-bottom prices.

The Republicans have an unprecedented mandate to right the ship. Paul Ryan speaks of privatizing Medicare; we need only look at Medicaid privatization in this state to predict a dire outcome. President-elect Donald Trump has promised to bring jobs back from abroad, though all products bearing his name are made in other countries. He wishes to create a military rivaling that of the Vietnam War, while massively cutting taxes and suggests that reducing other federal programs will balance this. Which are we personally willing to reduce - Social Security, Pell grants, the postal service?

To those who voted for Trump, I sincerely wish you success in uniting our country and finding solutions to health care, education, employment and immigration problems. Nothing would please me more. But I will not be silent in the face of the darker forces you put in power, that degrade women, minorities, religions. It is my right and mandate to seek 'liberty and justice for all.”

Mary Kemen

Cedar Rapids