By Jerry Kremer

I am a strong believer in the two-party system.

During my 23 years in Albany, I made every effort to cross the aisle and work with Republicans on a variety of issues. Many of those efforts were successful and the winners were the people of New York State.

Sadly, as each day goes by, the distance between the Democrats and the Republicans throughout the country is as wide as the Grand Canyon.

There was nothing more pathetic than the recent hearing for the approval of a new member of the U.S. Supreme Court. A handful of Republican senators, who think of themselves as future presidents, put an ugly blemish on the Republican Party’s image that will not easily disappear.

Trying to smear an accomplished black woman, who had won their past support for lower court nominations, was a terrible reflection on what is left of the party.

Once upon a time, Congress was inhabited by Republicans who understood the need for common-sense legislation and worked closely with Democrats to get the people’s business done.

President Ronald Reagan was a strong proponent of fair immigration laws. On November 6, 1986, he signed the Immigration Reform and Control Act, which allowed immigrants who had entered the U.S. illegally before Jan. 1, 1982 to apply for legal status, provided they paid fines and back taxes.

Reagan himself referred to this new policy as “amnesty” and it allowed three million immigrants to secure legal status if they could demonstrate “good moral character.”

During the next ten years, the foreign-born population of our country increased from 14.1 million to 19.8 million. Among those new citizens were four million Latin American-born residents and 2.4 million Asian residents.

Today’s Republican Party has zero-tolerance for new immigrants and most of the Republican Congress members are vehemently against helping the Dreamers who were born here and have been desperately seeking a road to citizenship.

People like Senator Ted Cruz(R-TX) who comes from a state that has a high percentage of Mexican Americans, constantly portrays all of the people massing at the Texas border as “drug dealers and terrorists.”

Once upon a time when America was faced with serious challenges to the health of our citizens, elected officials of both parties supported efforts to eradicate polio and other crippling diseases. Today’s Republican Party uses the wearing of masks as a political device to gain the votes of people who disrespect government.

The vast majority of the Republican House members refuse to say whether they have received a COVID vaccination. Current efforts to set aside $10 billion to buy new vaccines and other equipment in the event of a new pandemic, are being opposed by Washington Republicans using the border immigration battle as a tool to stop life-saving programs.

There is nothing more disgraceful than the efforts of Republican legislatures throughout the country who have passed laws aimed at restricting the turnout of voters. These legislators are against such things as extended voting hours, absentee ballots and specifically target cities that have large numbers of black voters.

The current war in the Ukraine is very much like our 1775 revolution, when Americans fought for new freedoms, including having a voice in their government.

Over the past 20 years, our country has made enormous strides in protecting the rights of its people and the courts have affirmed those rights. The struggle of gay people to gain acceptance has been successful, but people such as Florida Gov. De Santis are determined to make gay people into political pariahs.

De Santis, who fashions himself as a future president, spends all of his waking hours figuring out how to eliminate free speech and prevent his own constituents from the ongoing threat of new Covid outbreaks.

It is hard to believe that 120 current members of the House of Representatives have refused to accept the results of the 2020 presidential election. In addition, even though they were sitting in their chamber on Jan. 6 when the capitol was breached by rioters, many Republicans refer to the incident as a “peaceful protest.”

There is no doubt that the Democratic Party has a number of progressives who take questionable stands on a variety of issues, but that pales in comparison to the number of Republican officials who no longer resemble what the Grand Old Party officials used to be.