To the Editor,

In his anniversary news conference last month President Biden posed the question, “What do [Republicans] stand for?”

I am presently and unaffiliated voter but have been both a registered Republican and Democrat. This is how I would answer the President.

Republicans stand for the Constitution as the unique, brilliantly written founding document of our republic. Democrats believe it is obsolete and needs to be updated for modern times. President Barak Obama once said that it granted too little power to the government.

Republicans understand that a country without borders cannot be a sovereign nation. Democrats believe anyone who can get here should be allowed to stay and enjoy the benefits of full citizenship. They fail to differentiate between residency and citizenship.

Republicans believe that capitalism is the best economic system. A recent poll shows that 59 percent of registered Democrats prefer socialism. Unanswered is the question why they don’t emigrate to a socialist utopia like Venezuela or Cuba.

Republicans oppose nullification. Democrats feel that governors, mayors and district attorneys should be able to decide what laws they choose to enforce and have the power to declare their cities sanctuaries (except when it comes to the Second Amendment).

Republicans subscribe to the notion that a nation cannot simply keep adding to its national debt by running ever increasing budget deficits. Democrats buy in to “modern monetary theory” which essentially says we do not have to worry about it.

Democrats espouse the concept of “equity” as opposed to “equality under the law”. They also believe that grievances for past transgressions should be paid for those presently living who had nothing to do with these abuses. Republicans realize that equity means equal outcomes whereas equality refers to opportunity and recognize that merit and, yes, even luck should be rewarded.

 Republicans believe in small government. Democrats think that large, central bureaucracies staffed by graduates of elite universities know what is good for all citizens in the country. When failures such as the postal service and, here in Rhode Island, the DCYF, state hospitals and the Department of Motor Vehicles are pointed out, Democrats merely shrug.

Republicans believe that the role of judges is to apply the law –especially the Constitution- not make laws by judicial fiat. Progressive Democrats have long used activist judges to advance their agenda because its elements would not survive if brought to a vote either by the legislature or the people.

 I did not vote for Donald Trump in 2016. I thought that running a family-owned real estate development company and experience as a reality TV star were not qualifications for the presidency of the United States. I disliked the tone of his Tweets and the belittling names he gave people.

I did vote for him in 2020 partly because I abhorred the way the man was persecuted by Democrats and the Department of Justice over a patently bogus claim of “Russian collusion”. Also, I viewed candidate Joe Biden as a cognitively impaired old man who had spent his entire life in politics and accomplished nothing as unfit for office.

I predict President Biden will resign after the mid-term elections in November or perhaps after January 20, 2023 which would allow President Harris to run for two terms in office on her own after completing his term. We could call it “the Harris Decade”.

Richard J. August

North Kingstown