Mark Small

Our Nation’s history has been marked by people fighting for the right to vote. In too many instances elected officials of each of the two major political parties have acted to suppress that right. Today the current iteration of the GOP has taken up that evil mantle. 5/12

People have the right to vote - and have that vote counted. People need to vote in this election. Those who seek to suppress the vote should be noted and turned out of office at the soonest electoral moment. 6/12

If adherents of the creed of this iteration of the GOP are so confident they are right - and that they believe in the principles upon which this country was founded - they should welcome every eligible voter casting their vote. 7/12

It appears that people are voting early in record numbers for this general election. The results of the elections - for so many offices - are only a start. Many people safe from discrimination were inured to the notion racism was a part of our past. 8/12

Racism/hatred/discrimination in every form have been w/this country fr its birth We never can rest in fight against these evils. We have seen too much hatred the past few years for any reasonable person to believe the roots of it run very deep and are not easily torn out. 9/12

D.C. Stephenson moved to Indiana 100 years ago to recruit for the KKK. His conviction for the murder of Madge Oberholzer, a young woman who worked in the office of the Superintendent Public Instruction, was thought by some to spell an end to the Kluxers. 10/12

If this iteration of the GOP is about keeping control of the country in the hands of a few, we need to understand they are the few. We need to vote and let the few know that their ideas are not accepted in the marketplace of ideas. 11/12

And here I thought this iteration of the GOP was all about free market economic policies. If you are confident of your position, you should welcome exchanges of ideas. Gosh golly, otherwise all it amounts to is cowardice. 12/12