The opinions shared are those of the authors alone and are not endorsed by the Newtown Democrats.
We’re getting closer and closer to election season and we’re playing a bit of catch up on letters to the editor! There’s is lots to read and as always, lots more still to say. Contact Steve Cickay if you’d like to join in and let your voice be heard.
Weaponizing Christianity: The Attack on Democracy (Bucks County Beacon) by Joe Sundeen on 7/14/25
“Two recent books describe the decades long plan to establish one religion – extreme “fundamental” right-wing Christianity – as the sole system in control of human civilization. Does that sound a bit hysterical and overblown? It sure does, but the very audacity of the plan and its widespread success demands our close attention, because it leads to outcomes that only a few would be happy with, not even perhaps many of its willing collaborators.” – Read Full Article
More to Fear (The Sandpaper.net) by Alan Golombek on 7/16/25
“There has been talk about how Trump considers himself untouchable. The Supreme Court has just given him the keys to the kingdom. Our congressional bodies have surrendered to the king’s wishes.
From ICE to DOGE, our freedoms and our sense of safety have been destroyed. Each passing day, another decision is made and carried out. The “Big Beautiful Bill” has assured us that our republic is and will be disappearing. All of that is unquestionable. Looking back in history there is even more to fear.” – Read Full Article
Helping the Stranger (Bucks County Herald) by Steve Cickay on 7/24/25
“I then thought of my immigrant grandfather who came to this country searching for a better life in the early 1900s. He could barely speak English, but found work in a copper factory where he worked hard all his life, raising eight children, one of whom gave me life. No masked men had ever approached him, handcuffed him and sent him to a foreign prison.” – Read Full Article
Moderate Facade (The Philadelphia Inquirer) by Steve Cickay on 8/7/25
It was hilarious to read this quote by Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick in Julia Terruso’s recent article: “The only people that I report to are the residents of Pennsylvania’s First Congressional District — they are my bosses, and I answer to them and them alone.” How would he know what his constituents want? For almost 10 years now, afraid to answer tough questions about his MAGA votes, Fitzpatrick has had only one in-person town hall. I personally wrote him 52 letters in one year, and he answered only one. Many people I know have filled out dozens of issue forms in his office over several years that were never responded to.
The article was headlined in print as, “Was rogue vote by Fitzpatrick ‘gutsy’ or strategic?” And Fitzpatrick’s focus is indeed strategic: staying in good standing with his megadonors and his MAGA base. His 2026 Democratic opponent, Bob Harvie, said it perfectly: “He’s doing what his party is allowing him to do. When they need his vote, he’s there with them. When they don’t, they tell him he can pretend to be an independent.” Fitzpatrick could have killed that big, ugly bill that will slash Medicaid and SNAP, cutting off critical medicine and food to the sick and poor, only to shovel billions to the rich. But he didn’t. He only voted against the final version when his party didn’t need his vote.
Texas gerrymandering strips power from racial minorities (Bucks County Herald) by Tom Taft on 8/7/25
“Southern state Republicans are on the verge of accomplishing legislatively what the Confederate generals could not achieve on the battlefield over 160 years ago — winning the Civil War. Or at least accomplishing all of the goals that motivated the South to secede in the first place.” – Read Full Article
Defend Ukraine (Bucks County Herald) by Tom Taft on 8/15/25
Bigger in Texas (The Philadelphia Inquirer) by Lynn Strauss on 8/6/25
The Democratic state legislators in Texas who have broken quorum are putting their freedom, their finances, and their jobs on the line to protect the U.S. Congress. Their actions do absolutely nothing to help them personally. Nothing. The districts they are trying to protect are in the House of Representatives in Washington. Truly, in every way, they are heroes.
Republicans, at the urging of President Donald Trump, want to create more Republican-leaning districts to solidify control of the U.S. House in the upcoming 2026 midterm elections. The fact that Texas Republicans are proposing a redistricting plan outside the usual redistricting that occurs following the 10-year census surveys makes clear the hyper-partisan nature of this power grab. Republicans in Texas currently hold 25 of the state’s 38 congressional seats. They want new maps to raise that number to 30. Based on the results of the last presidential election, if districts were fair, the Republicans should hold 21 or 22 seats. Elected officials and community leaders all around the country are supporting these brave Texans. I am hopeful my congresswoman, Chrissy Houlahan, will join this chorus. Texas Democrats are fighting for the place where she works. They are fighting for all of us.
Apex Predators (The Philadelphia Inquirer) by Linda Falcao on 8/10/25
The Inquirer reports that “Five Philadelphia cops were fired for allegedly assaulting or threatening women. They’ve all been reinstated.” You have two men accused of sexual harassment and sexual assault (Clarence Thomas and Brett Kavanaugh, respectively) sitting on the highest court in the land. Our president is an adjudicated sexual abuser and has been notified by his own attorney general that his name appears in the files of child sexual abuse perpetrator Jeffrey Epstein. A convicted sex trafficker who groomed and procured children for Epstein is interviewed by the president’s attorneys, and miraculously, a few days later, gets transferred to a minimum security prison. What information about the president did she have that gave her leverage to get this upgrade, an unprecedented move for someone convicted of her level of crime? And then people have the nerve to ask about women harassed and assaulted, “But why didn’t she report it to the authorities?” Which of the above authorities would you want to report your harassment or assault to?