To The Editor:
My father, Wilbert Nickoless, may he rest in peace said to me as I was growing up—Try to help people if you hurt them.
My subject is the Democratic party and the Republican party and what they are doing for me as the average American. As a black American, I was born here 83 years ago, worked on a job 35 years and retired—an Army Vet High School graduate. Been living in South Carolina 34 years and love it. I’ve got relatives living all over the USA and some send me their newspapers and that’s how I get some of my ideas.
The Republican Party must reach out to new people and get away from the old party ideals. They need to support all the people, not just the rich and well off. Most African-Americans believe the Republican Party is against people of color, and it’s hard to change. An example of this in S.C. is the Confederate Flag issue. Do we want our state to stay in the old days?? No, we want to move on to the 21st century and modernize the state ways.
In S.C. and most southern states are Republican controlled, voted against the bills of the new Pres. Barack Obama. Pres. Bush was in eight years and what he did caused Pres. Obama to get elected. It left our country in terrible shape backing five percent of the rich people in the USA. The Republican must reach out from the old party ideals.
In New York, I had a good, well paying job driving an ice cream truck all over New York City. I remember doing the route in downtown Manhattan around Wall Street. When getting the ice cream out of the truck, a well-dressed man spoke to me and said, “I want you to vote for me.” I recognized him right away. It was Nelson Rockefeller. After being Democratic for so long, I voted Republican for Nelson Rockefeller.
I was doing good at the time and though some of that rich man money would come my way if I change over.
Voting for Nelson Rockefeller for President of the United States did nothing for me.
I just read what we need as an outbreak of people politics.
I NEED-WE NEED-OUR COUNTRY NEEDS something much bigger to strive for a sense of national commitment and purpose.
We need a connection to a common effort that enlist us to stop Washington and Wall Street’s abandonment of our political and social values, that’ll reverse the growing sense most of us have that our America is heading in the wrong direction, that’ll rekindle our Democratic idealism.
What we really needed is a Republican Party and a Democratic Party working together for the United States of America and it’s people instead of working for rich people and giant corporations.
Average American,
John Nickoless
Bennettsville, SC