Think Before You Vote

To the Editor: 
Publisher Art Hall’s right wing partisan screeds have become part of the political landscape in Cape May County. He claims to be an Independent. He’s a journalist, so he may have registered Independent, but no one who has read him would believe it.
His editorial a few years ago supporting a repeal of the ban on assault weapons (a position I hope he rues today), claimed that Americans needed assault weapons to keep the federal government in check, as if we had some sort of banana republic here.
Recently he compared the national Democratic Party leadership to murderous Soviets, because of its position on abortion. Let’s get this straight: No one is pro-abortion. No one is anti-life. What the Democratic Party opposes is any government interference in an individual’s medical decisions. Not everyone shares Hall’s religious conviction that all abortions, even in cases of incest, rape, and to protect the health or save the life of the mother should be criminalized.
Many good, moral, God-fearing Americans of all faiths and political persuasions, including Republicans, who abhor abortion also support an individual’s right to choose. So, whatever choir Hall is preaching to can be assured that God is not currently taking a stand against the Democratic Party in this election.
It is no secret that Cape May County has voted knee-jerk Republican for decades. At first it was that urban v. rural thing; then just habit. Admittedly, the same thing happened with Democrats in the cities. But this election is different. The Republican nominee isn’t your grandfathers’ Republican. Many mainstream Republicans have disowned him, and with good reason.
Donald Trump has insinuated that his political rival be imprisoned, and implied she might be assassinated; he has threatened to ban certain newspapers from covering his campaign, and has pointed the finger at ethnic and religious minorities as the source of the nation’s troubles. Sound familiar? Americans have fought wars against men with ideas like that. We certainly don’t vote for them.
Trump is not a populist, he’s a rabble-rouser. And Hall is no Independent to reject the Democratic alternative. I hope Cape May County voters will stop and think in the voting booth before they knee-jerk Republican this year. It’s a secret ballot, so tell your neighbors what they want to hear, then, let’s vote with our heads instead.
ED. Note: Hall stated that the national Democratic Party leadership appears to be leading the party away from faith in God and the consequent devaluation of human life. Hall has not taken the position indicated vis-à-vis rape, incest, etc.