Letter: We need to get out of this dark abyss

The Republican Party has been taken over by the ultra-right conservatives. They became the opposition party.

During their rise to power, the scandal industry flourished and the right-wing cable news stations delivered distorted “news” and gave credence to conspiracy theories. Underlying their broadcasts was misogynistic vitriol toward Hillary Clinton and racism toward President Obama.

Meanwhile, all us have been let down by Washington dysfunction.

Now we have Trump, who lies and entertains us with his alternative universe. Yet accusations about Hillary based on lies, not hers, dominate the news. Trump lies, but she is labeled the liar. How dare a woman run for president!

There are no facts regarding Clinton’s charges but there are plenty of unfavorable reports from fair minded media outlets (think newspapers) about Trump’s dealings in business. If Trump released his tax returns, we would know for sure.

Now we have a painful campaign season. Is this what we want in our politics? Is this the man we want on the world stage? Vladimir Putin’s puppet?

Do we really want our parties to be weakened by such disabling rhetoric where fact-checking is so overwhelming that we are fatigued?

We need both parties to function for a balance between fiscal responsibility and social needs. We need a candidate and politicians willing to work across the aisle respectfully, in good faith. We need to get out of this dark abyss.

This story was originally published September 30, 2016 at 3:56 PM with the headline "Letter: We need to get out of this dark abyss."