To the Editor:

A Letter to the Editor: Response to Patti Walker

Letter to the Editor Sept. 27, 2024

Patti Walker’s letter last week partly confuses me. She chose to frame the November vote as between The Former Guy and his challenger, Kamala Harris, who, she claims, is hiding her identity from us in a cynical strategy to sneak into power. It’s a point that loses value daily as folks get to know the Harris/Walz policies better. (Are we pretending that the Democratic National Convention was not “must-see” television? An event in which all the moderate, sensible and responsible aspirations of many Americans were happily shared aloud?) Here, my Methodist friend, is what you profess not yet to know about her:
Kamala is a true Democrat ... a former CA attorney general… a former senator. [She is the disciplined, strategic, and modest opposite of her older, privileged, unfiltered male rival.] Harris supports reproductive rights for women, no apologies offered. She is for reasonable limits to gun ownership, because no limits mean continued assault rifle terror. She supports Ukraine, and the Constitution, and voter rights. She champions the middle class. And yes, Ms. Walker, thank you for mentioning the “landmark” Inflation Reduction Act. Thank you for being from Fillmore and representing us by your Christian values and obvious intelligence. So, do you see it? When you enthuse regarding how (wealthy) “private investors do it better than the government can,” that helps me make my best point: Fillmorites like us are mostly NOT wealthy private investors. We folks on a budget feel NO need to keep Exxon-Mobil’s corporate tax rate low at 21%, [Does Exxon even pay taxes?] Please do not feign dismay that you don’t know Kamala’s position on law and order. She was a prosecutor, for Pete’s sake! When you say, in so many words, “We don’t know what she stands for. What is she hiding from us?” I feel confused that you, a worthy patriot (no question in my mind), are disregarding the choice to be serious, and also fair-minded.
Respectfully,

Tom Somers
Fillmore, Ca