Dear Editor,

I’m writing this letter to discuss the Opinion page column by Jack Bernard, in the January 18, 2023 issue of the Henry County Times titled “House Fiasco.” In his opening paragraph, Mr. Bernard made two claims in reference to the election of Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House. His first claim was that deals were made that “reduced the power and autonomy of the Speaker.” Well, that was true. Under the old rules, Nancy Pelosi was able to introduce an Omnibus spending bill that had over 6,000 pages of text. She then gave members about two days to read it and decide how they would vote on it. Under the new rules, that cannot happen, thankfully. On the other hand, Representatives Schiff and Swalwell would probably say the Speaker still had considerable power. Mr. Bernard’s second claim was that the 15 votes showed party disunity; that was true before the first vote, but not after the fifteenth.

Throughout his column, Mr. Bernard repeatedly referred to the events that occurred on January 6 as an insurrection. Well, evidently, the FBI did not think any of the participants were “insurrecting.” If they had, they could have charged them with that under Federal statute 18 USC 2384. (Please note the House is going to investigate the role of FBI “moles” encouraging illegal behavior on 1/6/21.) Mr. Bernard and the MSM need to get a dictionary; no one was trying to overthrow the government that day.

Mr. Bernard: “However, the current GOP has actively engaged in voter suppression. In 2013, a Supreme Court dominated by anti-government GOP appointees gutted the Voting Rights Act.” First off, how are events from 2013 considered current? Secondly, the 5-4 decision struck down parts of that law that were based on data that was 40 years old, and returned more control to the states concerning elections, AS ARTICLE 1, SECTION 4, OF THE CONSTITUTION PRESCRIBES. (A recent UGA poll had 0% of blacks saying they had a poor voting experience in last year’s midterm election. So much for Jim Crowe 2.0.)

Then, Mr. Bernard takes three paragraphs to say that Republican Presidents, Nixon, Reagan and Trump were racists. Regarding Trump, he said … “Trump let the Charlottesville white supremacists know his sympathies: ‘You had some very bad people … very fine people on both sides,’ Trump has a long history of racism.” First, this statement was made AFTER the event; how could he be letting the participants know what his sympathies were beforehand? Secondly, the statement is true. Not all participants from either side wanted to kill each other. And lastly, if you want to know how racist Donald Trump is, search “Black people Donald Trump helped with his own money” and “Trump photos taken with Civil Rights leaders.”

Finally, Mr. Bernard said that the Republican Party had changed, that it was now the “ReTrumpican Party,” and that Republicans “will blindly follow this ex-president down the road to un-constitutional authoritarianism.” Newsflash: Ron DeSantis is going to be the Republican candidate in 2024, with Tim Scott or Candace Owens as his running mate. He also said he was the former Chair of a rural Georgia Republican party but was now an active Democrat. Question: How could you be an active participant in a political party that produced such racist candidates as Nixon and Reagan? Anyway, so long, a young conservative black or Latino will neutralize your vote!

P.S. Three federal courts have ruled two of Biden’s COVID relief programs were un-Constitutional because they excluded white people? Un-Constitutional authoritarianism?

Dave Shope,
Locust Grove