Dear Editor:

I received my last campaign related phone call at 5:30 p.m. of election night. It was from John McCain! He sounded positive and convincing, but still I felt that there must be some undercurrents of concern due to the late hour and the Polls scheduled to close at 6 p.m. I was still polite to his recorded voice and listened politely to what he had to say.

I am of course pleased with the election. It is not so much that I did not like Romney, it is more that I do not like what the Republican Party has become. Living down here in the “Deep Red South”, I am confronted with a “Conservatism” that shakes up my traditional conservative inclinations. The mixing of Religious conservatism and Tea Party radicalism at the behest of any semblance of moderation is not a Political Party that I can identify with. Old time politics has seemed to acquire a bad reputation but there is still much to be said about compromise. I think that Ronald Regan or Bill Clinton is the ultimate exhibit that I would bring forward.

I, like the majority of the voters this year, still have some deep concerns about the “state” of this Country! Congress is presently impotent! Congressman Boehner cannot seem to be able to present any kind of agreeable compromise that he can get a majority of his Republican associates to accept. In the absence of any mutual compromise between the President and Mr. Boehner that includes a tax hike on the highest earners along with some significant revisions in the entitlement programs, my preference would be to let the Bush Era Tax Cuts completely expire, and then immediately place a proposal for a new tax cut on the table that would address the significant strain upon the middle class and the 97% of the small businesses that really deserve the tax break. I am optimistic that this can be accomplished!

I think that Mr. Romney might have been able to move closer to the center, but many of us in the center just could not bring ourselves to trust him completely. The Country is poised on the brink of a strong recovery, as it was under President Clinton, or we can stumble and go in the opposite direction. I do hope that we hear more from the Republican leadership about working for a common good as opposed to the likes of Senator McConnell’s previously stated goal of: “The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president”. That goal, of course, is completely unobtainable, but if that mentality is not changed, there is major concern on my part.

The election results were more a matter of the voters giving Mr. Obama more time than a second chance.

But, what if The President had lost the election? My response all along has been that regardless of who wins the Presidential Election, that individual will be my President and he will be your President! I will always respect the Office of The President and the importance that it holds for our Country, and I will honor the person and the title they hold. I would hope that each individual will now allow the winner to be her/his President!

Ernie Ezell

Auburn