To the Editor:

Looking back over the decades since JFK’s Democratic Party, it’s easy to see the dramatic shift in principles that has taken place. The party of JFK was the party that took us to war in Vietnam to try to stop the worldwide expansion of communism and socialism. President Kennedy’s most famous speech implored Americans to: Ask not what your country can do for you … Ask what you can do for your country.

Kennedy was a liberal when being liberal was honorable, before liberal principles were corrupted and undermined by Russia’s socialist influence in our politics and institutions.

Today, liberalism is synonymous with socialism. Democratic politicians increasingly refer to themselves as Democratic Socialists and pursue socialist policies. The liberalism of JFK is now referred to as Classical or Market Liberalism.

In Barack Hussein Obama, we had a Democratic president who thought exactly the opposite of Kennedy’s admonition to “ask not what your country can do for you.” With his “fundamental transformation,” Obama sought to establish socialism. He created government programs under the guise of “positive liberties,” things that your country had to do for you.

Obama felt that government had to provide things like cell phones, subsidized cars, homes, and health care. He had the temerity to refer to our Bill of Rights as a list of “negative liberties.” He turned our Constitution on its head.

In artificially dividing our liberties into two opposing types, he divided our country into two camps: one on the right being the tax producers that funded his positive liberties, and one on the left that consumed them.

President Ronald Reagan once said that he didn’t leave the Democratic Party, it was the Democratic Party that left him. Many have followed his lead including President Donald Trump.

With the recently formed Walkaway movement, many more are going to follow him this November. Democrats who swear they had never voted Republican have vowed to do just that in this upcoming election. They see the lies, hate, and division of today’s Democratic Party and want no part of it. How about you?

David Crawmer

East Greenbush