Note: This was intended for publishing in one of the local papers for Davenport, IA. The Quad City Times, and the Catholic Messenger both refused to publish it.

Greetings to my fellow residents of the Quad cities.  I am new here, having just relocated here from the Baltimore area.  After about a week in town (towns?) I have come to really enjoy the kind people, beautiful landscape, and calmer atmosphere than what I am accustomed to. I’ve also come to admire the population’s reputation for being hard working and honest.  I showed up here, with little to no knowledge of the area, let alone its history. Having spoken to some local long-time residents, I’ve gotten a bit more of the lay of the land, at least politically speaking. If I understand correctly, the Quad Cities are a historic labor city, one of hard-working, blue-collar, family-oriented people. Understandably so, this means the town also was, and currently still is a predominantly Democrat town. And why wouldn’t it be? Certainly, the Democratic party is the party that looks out for and protects the interest of the worker, right? Perhaps that was once true, but now the Democratic party is more interested in destroying the families that Quad City workers labor to support, in pursuit of their agenda of absurdity that seeks to create weak, subservient individuals that depend solely upon their government. A subhuman existence.

The Democratic party pushes an extreme feminist agenda. It has become clear that the accomplishments of the feminist movement aren’t enough for them, equal pay has never been the goal. Rather superiority over the male, upending the natural order, and thus destroying the fundamental unit of society – the family. It’s also evident that they’ve begun to accomplish this.          

According to a recent study published by the Journal of Marriage and Family, marriage rates have steadily declined over the past few decades because, frankly, women can’t find a man economically attractive enough to marry. This should be a shock to no one, considering that our society has been celebrating the reversal and distortion of gender roles.  Now we complain about the consequences, or perhaps we can just keep blaming the men.

If that isn’t reason enough to convince you, perhaps take notice that the Democratic party is filled with self-proclaimed “Socialists” such as Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and politicians who share their opinions closely like Elizabeth Warren. They thinly veil their communist agendas behind measures like the Green New Deal, using the manufactured “climate crisis” to push Marxist ideas and more government control over the economy. This has been happening for decades, but more explicitly in the last decade, as seen in leftist reports like The Great Transition (2009) from the New Economics Foundation.  The left is not shy about using climate change as an excuse to justify communism. It took some time, but these strategies are now mainstream in the Democratic party.  You might wonder, “aren’t Marxists and Communists supportive of workers?” They certainly weren’t supportive of the over 100 million murdered between The USSR in Russia and Maoist China for refusing to replace their traditional religions with that of state worship. Given the culture of shaming anyone with dissenting opinions as promoting “hate speech” or bigotry, there is every indication that should they attain the levels of power that they seek, their violent history will repeat itself. There is no tolerance for dissent. Certainly, leftist tyranny, either soft or hard, is not what motivates the workers of the Quad Cities.

Speaking of tyranny, a saying often attributed to Voltaire, sums things up nicely, “If you want to know who rules over you, find out who you aren’t allowed to criticize” Regardless of the disputed origin of that quote, whether it really was Voltaire or Kevin Strom, the point is valid. It is easy to test. Have you ever tried speaking out against the absurd over stepping of the LGBTQ community on Facebook or Twitter? Those who have, even from a religious perspective have had their pages suspended or removed for “hate speech.” This has happened to me for simply explaining the position of the Orthodox Church on the matter, and yes, I am an Orthodox Christian. Nevertheless, while the LGBTQ+ movement seemed innocent enough in the beginning, asking simply for the right to marry whom they choose, they have far surpassed that. While pretending to be marginalized, (yet being celebrated by the mainstream media) they demand that we not only approve of them, but that we allow them to indoctrinate our children.

This isn’t a scare tactic, this is what they propose, and what all the Democratic candidates expressed support for at the Presidential LGBTQ Forum here in Iowa, and it is all found in the Equality Act. If you aren’t familiar with the provisions of the act, Monica Burke in her article 7 Reasons Why the Equality Act Is Anything But, published by The Heritage Foundation, sums things up nicely. I will list her main points: 1) It would penalize Americans who don’t affirm new sexual norms or gender ideology (some candidates implied at the LGBTQ forum that dissenting comments in regard to this is a fireable offense). 2) It would compel speech. 3) It could shut down charities. 4) It would allow biological males to defeat females in sports. 5) It can be used to coerce medical professionals. 6) I will lead to more parents losing custody of their children. 7) It would enable sexual assault. For more details in that regard, I highly suggest reading Monica’s article. But the greatest example of the Democrats’ absurdity is this: they want to outlaw conversion therapy which is a treatment chosen by a consenting adult who desires to give up the same sex attraction, but it is completely acceptable to compel parents to allow their child a gender transition therapy with the threat of losing custody should they resist.

Hard working, family-oriented workers of the Quad Cities, the Democratic Party has passed you by.  They no longer look out for your best interest, except when it benefits their short-term maintenance of power which will ultimately be contingent on their long-term goal of destroying the basic fabric of society, the nuclear family unit. The left seeks to create a nation of weak, sub-servient individuals who rely on the state for their every need.  You will be told what to think and how to act.  This is not a vision of government for the people by the people, but rather a people who are used by the government for the expansion of its own power. Over the last couple hundred of years, under the guidance of progressive trends, governments have become ever more powerful and intrusive. This does not bode well, particularly for God fearing and hard-working men. It is also apparent that run of the mill conservatism is inept, and continually kowtows and compromises to the progressive agenda. Today’s conservatives are yesterday’s progressives. Simply slowing down the progressive and  communist push left is no longer good enough.  It is time to explore something different, a new way to implement and preserve the traditions of our past in our modern world. It is time that we build something that is both fair to our working class families, and aligned with our traditional values.