October 25, 2024
The Case for Kamala Harris: One Woman's View
by Deborah DiMicco

Our health and wellbeing are at stake. Harris will protect affordable health care. The US is the only country that does not have universal health coverage, but at least we have the ACA, over mostly Republican protest. Over 50 million Americans are now covered under this program. She is also pushing to lower drug costs. The cost of prescription drugs in the US is 3.22 times as high as in other comparison countries. Think about that. Why is that?

Harris will boost the child tax credit. During the pandemic, in rare bi-partisanship, the Pandemic Rescue Plan was born. This program lifted more people out of poverty in a single year than any other piece of legislation enacted in 50 years. (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities 8/29/24). Harris is fighting for those children, for those mothers, for those families who could use a good hand up, to attain economic security with the child tax credit. Why is this so hard for Republicans?

And of course, Harris champions women’s rights. We have come a long way, baby, and this clearly frightens conservatives. We are smart, we are determined, we don’t back down, we want equal rights and equal pay. We want a say. And the conservative religious politicos see that as a threat. They seek to constrain us with bans on abortion, travel out of state, even on campaigning for the right to abortion. They would shove us back decades. We are not going back. Harris is what we need in the face of this extremist push to roll back women’s rights. My freedom to choose does not take away that freedom from others. I don’t get that they don’t get that.

It’s time for a different perspective, a woman’s perspective, a mother’s perspective. Harris wants to bring people together, in all of our differences. She does not seek to make us all the same, she does not need us all to conform to one idea or belief. She does not threaten, demonize or weaponize. She wants us all to have a fighting chance economically. She has ignored the racist, sexist, puerile taunts and jabs from the MAGA candidate and his machine. She doesn’t waste her time on the petty small stuff, she does not ask what we can do for her, she is telling us what she can do for us, all of us. Listen!

October 25, 2024
The Case for Kamala Harris: One Man's View
by Hal Wright

Men: In a moment, I'm going to ask you to vote for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz, enthusiastically if possible. Stay with me.

If you're on the fence, I get it. We've all seen the signs, literally and figuratively, on one side of the political spectrum. "The future is female." "Women will save democracy." "Smash the patriarchy." When men's existence as good and useful humans is acknowledged at all, we receive, at best, a pat on the head and assurance that what's good for women is good for us too. We rarely hear the word "masculinity" without it being preceded by the word "toxic." Some women go so far as to try and define "positive" masculinity, or say we need to get beyond it, as if we don't already know what masculinity is and what it's for.

By a number of objective measures, many men, especially young men, are grappling with serious challenges not of their own making. Very few people seem to have noticed; fewer seem to care.

None of this is part of the future we imagine. We don't want to denigrate women. But we don't want a matriarchy any more than we want a patriarchy. We want to collaborate with women as equals. We want our role in building this great country, literally and figuratively, to count for something in its political discourse and in its policies.

Here's the thing. That's what Kamala Harris wants too. I'm sure, because that's how she has lived her life, and that's how she is running her campaign. As prosecutor, District Attorney in San Francisco, Attorney General of California, US Senator, Vice President, and now as presidential candidate, Harris has eagerly immersed herself in environments that require a toughness rarely seen in anyone, man or woman. In each role, she has done her job very well—no more, no less. Harris is not carrying the feminist banner. Like every smart, tough, patriotic public servant, she merely wants to serve the country she loves and all its citizens to the best of her ability.

Kamala Harris has pledged to unify America and to work on behalf of all of us. So has her running mate, Tim Walz. Picking Walz wasn't just an astute political move. Clearly, Harris gets along with the Midwestern veteran, teacher and hunter. The two will form a potent leadership team. And, "mind your own business" is a fitting mantra for our times.

The Biden/Harris administration has done much more for our country than they have gotten credit for. Access to healthcare has been expanded. Social Security and Medicare have been preserved. Our infrastructure is being fixed and improved. Post-pandemic inflation has been curbed without recession. Stocks have doubled in value. Jobs and GDP are up. Our problem isn't lack of wealth, it is wealth inequality, something Harris and Walz have Plans To Address head on. NATO strength has been restored and expanded, thank goodness, given the number of bad actors who want to destroy us. We all know who is responsible for killing the secure borders bill authored by conservative Republican Senator James Lankford. It wasn't the current president, who promised to sign it, as has Kamala Harris when the time comes.

With respect, if you think Elon Musk and the former president for whom he simps have the answers to your problems, if you think they possess some sort of magical fairy dust able to lower your grocery bill and create world peace, you might have spent just a little too much time watching bro-culture podcasts. These bizarre individuals have neither the awareness nor the inclination to do more in the public sphere than serve their own interests.

If I've lost you at this point, or if I need to convince you that the fake "masculinity" on the other side isn't borne of insecurity and weakness, this message probably isn't for you. For me, a man doesn't need to strip women of their civil rights to feel like a man. A man doesn't need to create arbitrary hierarchies based on gender or skin color or religion to feel he is on top. A man lifts people up. He doesn't obsessively tear people down.

Women are pissed off, and rightly so. They are living through a renewed era of existential threat they spent generations trying to overcome. As our fathers would say, "Be a man." See their truth, and accept it. Give women the support they need to recover their bearings and their agency in what for them is a very dangerous environment. Give them support, even if they do not ask for or acknowledge it.

And give Kamala Harris the chance to lead, to show us what she can do. Vanquish once and for all the aged, fragile, damaged person opposing her, who—you know this—offers us nothing but division and violence, and embodies the most toxic of human traits.

October 17, 2024
The Inquirer Endorses Ashley Ehasz
by Hal Wright

Once again, the Philadelphia Inquirer has endorsed Ashley Ehasz for US Congress over incumbent Brian Fitzpatrick.

Ashley Ehasz is a 2010 graduate of West Point who served as a Apache helicopter pilot and commander in Iraq and Kuwait. In describing Ehasz as the unequivocal "better choice," the Inquirer cited the following:

The Inquirer had much to say about Brian Fitzpatrick's poor performance in office: "[A]s Trump bent the GOP-controlled House to his will, Fitzpatrick has come up small on major issues involving women’s rights and defending democracy."

Fitzpatrick "has been on the wrong side of history" in the past, the Inquirer said, while echoing Liz Cheney's warning that "the GOP can’t be trusted to stay in power" in 2025.

The Inquirer also took note of Fitzpatrick's near total withdrawal from public discourse in recent years. Fitzpatrick "refused to meet with The Inquirer Editorial Board, has not debated Ehasz, and has largely run a stealth campaign with limited public availability." Fitzpatrick refuses to say whether he supports Trump—he ran from a reporter who asked the question—and his disengagement makes it impossible to determine whether he would support a national abortion ban.

"A public official who can’t make their case for reelection should not be reelected," the Inquirer said.

We at Newtown Democrats are grateful to the Inquirer for putting into sharp relief the stark differences between Ashley Ehasz and Brian Fitzpatrick. It's time for new leadership in PA01.

October 14, 2024
Democrats Support Unions, Republicans Do Not
by Deborah DiMicco

Joe Biden negotiated the resolution of a strike which threatened to cripple our economy in three days. Who's the dealmaker now?

The International Longshoremen’s Association walked off the job on October 1, dockworkers from Maine to Texas hitting the picket lines. The last time the ILA went on strike was in 1977. It took seven weeks to reach a settlement. The Biden administration (don’t forget that Joe Biden walked the picket line with striking auto workers) was able to help both sides reach an agreement in three days.

As the election draws ever closer, it’s important to remember whose side the presidential candidates are on. Julie Su, acting Labor Secretary said, “Over the last week and more, I have spent hours on the phone and in meetings with the parties urging them to find a way to a fair contract.” As the former president hides in his happy places on the campaign trail and on Fox News, let’s remember in 2023, the AFL-CIO noted in a press release, “Former President Trump spent four years in office weakening unions and working people while pushing tax giveaways to the wealthiest among us. He stacked the courts with judges who want to roll back our rights on the job."

As Elon Musk shares the stage with Trump at his rallies, the United Auto Workers filed federal labor charges against the former president and Elon Musk for publicly applauding the practice of firing employees who threaten to strike. Said Trump, “I won’t mention the name of the company, but they go on strike and you say, you’re all gone. You’re all gone.”

So here’s the deal. Trump is not on our side. He is not on the side of labor, of workers, of the common man or woman trying to get ahead. It is time to vote: to vote him off the island, to purge us of this threat of the former president and his musky followers. Make them irrelevant. Their way is anti-labor, anti-middle class, anti-you and me. It is all for one, and that one ain’t us. November 5 is coming. The future is in your hands. Your mission….is to VOTE.

October 10, 2024
Democratic Lawn Signs Are Being Stolen, Slashed and Burned
by Diane LeBas

Far from being an inconsequential prank, stealing or damaging a political lawn sign is an attack on protected speech, a right guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution as well as by the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Donald Trump pledges that he will "be a dictator on day one" of his second term. His followers are already attacking our First Amendment rights and intimidating voters on our very own streets and in our very own neighborhoods.

Under the First Amendment, political signs are considered "core political speech," a form of speech that may support or critique a candidate, position, political party or issue—or the government itself. Activities such as circulating petitions or attending nonviolent rallies, as well as symbolic actions like burning the flag, are also types of core political speech and are therefore protected from restriction or interference by government entities. Anyone could cover their entire lawn with political signs and be free from governmental limitations unless their signs posed a clear and present danger to the public.

Protecting political signs from criminal behavior by bad actors during a heated campaign season is difficult. Although in Pennsylvania stealing or damaging a political sign is a third degree misdemeanor punishable by jail time, probation, or a series of fines, these assaults on our free speech "are happening all over," according to Dawn Burke, a local attorney. Newtown and neighboring communities have experienced a good number of disturbing incidents of sign theft or vandalism recently. On one Borough block half a dozen signs were stolen or destroyed; homeowners even had garbage thrown near a sign. Even worse, a line of political signs were set on fire in Upper Makefield lighting up the night sky and endangering the neighborhood.

In addition to suppressing the expression of free speech, the destruction of political lawn signs becomes a personalized and dangerous type of intimidation: On the Borough's Market Day, visitors to the Dems display table were offered lawn signs, posters, stickers and pins promoting this year's candidates. A surprising (and distressing) number of folks told volunteers that they were afraid of putting out lawn signs and chose much smaller and more private symbols of support.

We cannot validate the belief that the louder and nastier voice is the only one that deserves to be heard. When Democrats are afraid to exercise our free speech rights publicly, we have handed an important victory to our opponents. Newtown Democrats appreciates all those who put out signs and wear stickers, pins, hats and T-shirts in support of Democratic candidates! If your signs are stolen or vandalized, call your local chief of police and file a complaint.

October 5, 2024
The Serial Predator Who Claims He Will Protect Women
by Deborah DiMicco

Is anyone else creeped out by Trump’s sudden “friend of women” riff assuring us that we will be “happy, healthy, confident and free” and that we will “no longer be thinking about abortion?”

Trump continued: “We want you to have your beautiful babies in this country. We want you to have your beautiful, perfect baby….we need them.” This is far more than, as Stephen Colbert put it, “upsetting.” This is cringing, skin crawling EEWWW. Does he think women are stupid? When one sees this grab-them-by-the-pussy sex abuser try to project Big Brother benevolence toward women, it appears that the answer is yes.

We’ve been told by JD Vance that Republicans will “create stories” and this, clearly, is just another fabrication to sucker us into voting for him even as he seeks to take away our choices, our self-determination, our independence. Trump and the MAGA conservatives he must appease see a threat by strong women who want to upend their society’s order, where the man is at the top and in charge. That creaky notion is being challenged by smart, powerful independent women who dare to disagree, who dare to see a different America, who dare to challenge the conservative, patriarchal “we know best” status quo. So Trump & Co must diminish these women. This is not limited to those in the opposing party. They even go after their own; Republican Senator Katie Britt’s rebuttal to Biden’s State of the Union address was delivered from her kitchen table, the tacit message; this is where women belong.

Kamala Harris’ candidacy (pronounced KAH mah lah, her name deliberately mispronounced by Trump and Vance in childish, deliberate insult and denigration) is the height of what these conservatives fear: a shift in power, from those who seek to take power away from women, to those who would empower them. Trump’s words of rapprochement are disingenuous, and are glaringly inconsistent with his actions. Yet Trump thinks we’ll buy it. He thinks we’re stupid. That is his biggest mistake.