To the Editor:

For the last decade, I have questioned my party allegiance, as well as the allegiance of others to their party. Though I have always voted Democrat, many issues and candidates have tested that loyalty. However, despite these differences, I have found the Democrats to be closer to issues that are most compassionate and, though I am not religious, most Christian.

It all comes down to this, doesn’t it? Most of us repeatedly vote for one party, despite the candidates, because that party has come to stand for issues we value. My major issues are:

• Money in politics — Though there has always been money in politics, the Supreme Court ruling equating corporations to people unleashed the lobbyists to turn many of our politicians into millionaires.

• Social issues — Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and the best public education possible for all children, along with programs that attempt to eliminate poverty and inequity. 

• An end to war and the many negatives that enable it. One of those negatives is that many young men and women, largely our enlisted fighting force, enter the military solely because their education has limited their possibilities.

So write down three issues that repeatedly make you vote Republican or Democrat; and if you had to argue them, could you defend them, as I must, with actual evidence? We should all look forward to that peaceful discussion.

Ruth Ballard

Hayesville