GOP must return to their own platform

To the editor:
 As a very active member of the Maine Republican Party I can no longer keep silent. Over the past years, I have been watching the party spiral downward at an alarming rate. While some may say we are becoming more “inclusive” I see it as a tragic departure from our core values which is costing, and will cost us greatly in more ways than economic.
    When we, as a party, focus on financial issues and “just getting Republicans elected no matter what they believe” we are actually doing a disservice to our own party platform and the thousands of conservative voters in this state. While I, personally, do not believe moral issues such as abortion and homosexual marriage have any part in government, they have been brought in by those of a more liberal agenda and we cannot shrink back from taking a stand for righteousness.
    In 1830, Alexis DeTocqueville said, “I sought the key to the greatness and genius of America in her harbors, in her fertile fields, in her boundless forests, in her vast world commerce, in her public systems of education and higher learning. I sought for it in her democratic congress and her matchless Constitution. But it was not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits aflame with righteousness that I understood the secret of her genius and of her power. America is great because America is good. And if America ever ceases to be good, then she will also cease to be great.” As Maine goes, so goes the nation … do we want to continue to compromise on moral issues as a party and support our leaders who do compromise, or do we want to take a strong stand for righteousness and goodness and be a light to the nation?
DeAnne Rogan
Houlton