Vote against the reality of today

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As Election Day Approaches

To allow candidates the right to respond to criticisms about their candidacy before Election Day, the last day Independent Newsmedia will publish new election-related letters in our weekly print editions is Oct. 21, and the last day they will publish online is Oct. 27. Candidates may submit a 150-word reply addressing criticisms only and should email them to AzOpinions@iniusa.org along with their name, address, contact number and the headline of the letter they’re addressing.

OPINION — Rick Dime’s letter titled, “Before you vote, consider the recent past,” states something with which I totally agree, but not for the reasons he implies.

And I now see why his posts, which contain many incorrect assumptions, are allowed for publication since they have words like “seemingly” or “allegedly” which condemn immigrants and liberals but with non-specific accusations.

However, I must contest his assumptions with facts that can be checked easily. Fact: We, as a nation, benefit financially by millions from the presence of immigrants, even the undocumented ones. They pay taxes, hold essential jobs, have extremely low crime rates, can’t access government assistance programs and are an important part of the fabric of our communities — some here since childhood. 

Rick accuses Dr. Fauci allegedly of “hiding truth and embellishing misinformation.” Please go to Fact-Check.org to see the many ways the truth was manipulated to tar this good man, doing his best with a brand new virus. And it was Trump who fast-tracked the vaccine, one of the only good things he did. He should have bragged about that instead of fomenting anti-vaccine rhetoric, making this a political issue.

Rick says the “fair application of law can’t have duplicitous outcomes.” Agreed, but Trump’s DOJ is “allegedly” acting completely contrary to that. The DOJ “seemingly” is being used to punish enemies and reward friends.

Rick  further implies that in 2030 under “liberal Socialists” we will “own nothing, and have no privacy.” This as Trump is “allegedly” taking ownership and control of several private industries, including the news, and doing away with individual privacy and constitutional protections. ICE now breaks into houses without warrants, detains and deports without due process, and “allegedly” uses facial recognition to keep track of us everywhere. Vote against  the reality of today. Protect our democratic republic!

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