Letter to the editor: Republicans not party of Lincoln

The Republican Party should fess up. They are not the self-styled party of Abraham Lincoln.

During the Civil War and presidential election of 1864, the Republican Party of Lincoln outlined a platform of 11 principles. Among these planks:

• Resolved, to “forever prohibit the existence of slavery within … the United States.”

• Resolved, “That foreign immigration, which in the past has added so much to the wealth, development of resources and increase of power to the nation, the asylum of the oppressed of all nations, should be fostered and encouraged by a liberal and just policy.”

* The 2020 Republican Party has watched while their leader referred to immigrants as drug dealers, killers and rapists.

• Resolved, soldiers who have fallen in defense of this country “shall be held in grateful and everlasting remembrance.”

* The 2020 Republican Party leader has disparaged American soldiers who have been captured or killed while serving this country.

• Resolved, that “the public debt must be kept inviolate … we recommend economy and rigid responsibility in the public expenditures.”

* The Treasury Department reported the national debt between January 2017 and September 2020 increased by $7 trillion.

What was the Republican Party platform for 2020? Resolved, “That the Republican Party has and will continue to enthusiastically support the President’s America-first agenda.” Hardly the transformative Republican Party principles espoused by the party of Lincoln.

Richard Dulemba

Washington Township, Westmoreland County