As a deeply proud Enfield Democrat I feel compelled to respond to Wendy Piper’s letter to the editor, printed in the July 3, 2025 edition. Piper’s source-less, scattered complaints about the Democrats is beyond puzzling to me. It is almost as if she is already a Fox-watching, Kool-Aid-drinking Republican who, instead of paying attention to the Herculean efforts the Dems have been making to hold back the benefit-cutting, entitlement-slashing, tax-happy (at least to the lower income earners) Republicans, she has accepted as truth the nonfactual, baseless slander they have spoon fed our population.
Piper seems incapable of seeing the big picture and instead has conflated issues the Dems have taken on in responding to Republicans’ actions as theirs, i.e., standing up for trans people to be treated as any other people instead of eagerly taking away their rights as citizens; standing up for women to make their own choices; and questioning ICE’s treatment of human beings whose rights are being violated as they try to make a better life for themselves. These are issues, hopefully anyone who takes equality and justice for all seriously would take up. The Dems are fighting against the Republicans’ unjust determinations which is what Dems do.
Personally, I’m all for people doing what is in their hearts. Wendy should have realized that she was a Republican long ago and saved us all the efforts we have made to get her elected. I feel strongly that Piper needs to resign the position she was elected to as a Democrat. I call that false pretenses.
And just to be clear, we are aware that Piper’s constituents were the last to know she had changed parties. The Union Leader posted this information, from Piper, early last week. Who outside Grafton County cares?
Barbara J. Jones
Enfield
A shocking switch
I was surprised and shocked to see Wendy Piper’s letter that she was switching to the Republican Party because she was concerned about middle class and working families. We’ve all seen many reports of the budget cuts to programs that provide for just those families. I’ve been a volunteer driver with one such program, Meals on Wheels, for years. This is an incredibly effective, very low cost program that is essential to the same people Piper supports. The Trump administration is now cutting and disrupting health programs, which threatens the future of Meals on Wheels. I urge Piper to think again about which party truly serves the people she cares about.
David Goldberg
West Lebanon
What the flag means
On July 4, my wife and I displayed my father-in-law’s burial flag to honor his World War II service and to celebrate his birthday; he happened to be born on July 4, 1911. I couldn’t help but reflect on how much he revered this country and what the flag meant to him. For him the flag represented a country that showed compassion for and was generous toward the downtrodden, a country that welcomed immigrants, a country whose bedrock was the Constitution and the rule of law with “no person above the law” as a fundamental tenet, a country that protected minorities and people of all faiths and beliefs and guarded against the mingling of church and state affairs, a country that was committed to public education and investing in the promise of science, and a country that was committed to the democratic ideal of “one person, one vote.” Based on the current state of affairs in this country, with a heavy heart I’m not sure this is what the flag now stands for.
Ted Fantl
Grantham