I agree. The GOP has been dead since Reagan | Letters – NJ.com

Congratulations to former Republican congressional candidate Martin A. Hewitt, who finds himself “forced to quit the Republican Party” because “The party died when the Senate voted against witnesses in the impeachment trial” (“ ‘The Republican Party has died,’ former GOP candidate says,” guest opinion column).

He also identified the Republican presidents who gave the party its “proud history,” namely Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt and Dwight Eisenhower. His omission of Ronald Reagan from the list is telling. Since Hewitt notes the moment of the party’s death, the fatal disease was contracted when Reagan famously said, “The government is the problem.” The Republican Party has been ill for lo, these 40 years.

Marty McGowan, Monroe

Calling Gabbard ‘strongest’ is fiction

Paul Mulshine’s remarkable suggestion to Democrats — that Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, D-Hawaii, should win the party’s nomination to run for president (“Democrats deny a voice to their strongest candidate”) — is like the big bad wolf offering architectural advice to the three little pigs.

Robert Schwartz, Clifton

Which side is law enforcement on?

I was amused by state Sen. Michael Testa’s guest column in the Sunday Star-Ledger (“Murphy’s ‘sanctuary state’ policies handcuff law enforcement” ). New Jersey law enforcement now bemoans Gov. Phil Murphy’s sanctuary state efforts. Yet, the state Policemen’s Benevolent Association and all the locals enthusiastically supported Murphy largely because he let the 2% cap on salary increases expire. So in exchange for their well-being, the law enforcement community sold themselves and the rest of us out. Thanks guys!

Anthony Nardiello, Union

Zoo is entertainment, not education

This is about the Turtle Back Zoo, the waste of taxpayer money, the ongoing destruction of South Mountain Reservation and bad education. The Essex county executive, Joe DiVincenzo, intends to build an amphitheater in the zoo. Though the budget has not been finalized, the county received $4 million from the state after Joe’s early endorsement of candidate Phil Murphy. The freeholders (the guardians of the purse), are expected to add $4.6 million more on top of the $600,000 they have already allocated for design plans. The zoo’s footprint has doubled in the past 10 years to 40 acres, including McLoone’s Restaurant and a mini-golf course.

DiVincenzo’s justification for the amphitheater is education. He wants children to come by the hundreds to see exotic animals like giraffes and lions. These animals are native to the savanna and range freely over many miles daily; in Essex County, the giraffes are kept indoors for half the year because of cold weather. This is called animal cruelty. Hundreds of children watching an event in an amphitheater is not education, it’s entertainment. Real education happens in small groups where teachers and students interact, ask questions and think out loud together. The only lesson taught in this amphitheater will be that cruelty to animals is wrong.

Jim Price, Montclair

Why vaccines are a danger to my son

Our son Michael has neuro­fibro­mato­sis 1 that cause his nerve cells to grow tumors. Michael was vaccinated until he was 6-months old. A pediatric immunologist and his pediatrician instructed us not to vaccinate him. A urinalysis revealed that the vaccinations Michael received caused high levels of aluminum in his tissues. His neuro­fibro­mato­sis doctors made it clear that any level of heavy metals was a concern.

We exercise the religious exemption regarding vaccinations because of our religious beliefs. If we didn’t, Michael would not be covered by a medical exemption or protected by herd immunity. He would not be protected by the medical exemption because he does not qualify based on the guidelines established by the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices. He would not be protected by herd immunity because it is not the infections that he is particularly vulnerable to, but the chemicals in the vaccines.

He is vulnerable to the chemicals in vaccines because his nerve cells already have one hit in the two-hit process for tumor growth. In the case of the medically complicated, of which Michael’s is one of many, forced vaccination in the name of herd immunity would cause harm.

Joe Woerner, Asbury Park

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