Republicans have helped the decline of the middle class

The right supports trickle-down economics and weaker unions.

I’d like to thank Dennie Anderson and the several other people who have gone out of their way to contact me and show their appreciation for the responses I have presented over several years in the Courier-Herald to many of the far-right conservatives that have written in to express their views on the problems with our society and what they think should be done about them.

I don’t agree, however, with Ms. Anderson that the paper should censor David Cannon for his comments, nor any of the other right-wingers who express similar views.

I always hope my responses are well thought-out and respectful, for the most part. Although people like Mr. Cannon and a few others seem to think that the Enumclaw Plateau is largely made up of conservatives, I have not found that to be the case, especially with all the new housing developments filling up with younger and more progressive folks.

It has been my observation for a long time that what many “conservatives” want is to conserve the right to tell other people what to think and what to believe. They love to brand anything that helps the less fortunately among us as “socialism” never mind that without a degree of socialism, no Democratic society could properly function, fire departments, police protection, roads, bridges, social security, education, just to touch on a few of the many services our government provides.

Socialism, of course, stems from the word society, which I interpret to mean that without socialism there could not be a society. Conservatives that have been in power on a federal level have, for at least the last 40 years, subscribed to the much-disproved theory that lowering taxes on the rich will stimulate the economy. President Reagan was the one that came up with this gem and his administration was the beginning of the end of our great middle class. He fired the air traffic controllers for striking and since then, union membership has declined significantly.

Unions were very instrumental in building the middle class but unfortunately the power they achieved led to many abuses and a lot of people are now sourced on the idea of unions.

One of the other things that Regan was largely responsible for was the distrusting of government in general. He once said, “The most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the government and I’m here to help.”

This has become another mantra of conservatives, that you can’t trust the government and they work this very effectively.

Now to my idea of liberalism: I think it stands for acceptance of others religions, ideals, sexual identity and self-determination.

Larry Benson

Enumclaw