The Republican Party is broken. Were I a conservative who believed in the party of Abraham Lincoln, Dwight Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan, I would be very concerned. The situation is dangerous for democracy, which relies on an honest exchange of ideas to forge agreement on the difficult issues the nation faces.

The Republican Party is no longer presenting serious ideas for governing. It continues to support a president with dangerous narcissistic tendencies who does not understand the complexities of governing and spends his time defending himself and demeaning his opponents. Congressional Republicans understand that, but do nothing.

The Republican Party has abandoned its tradition of fiscal responsibility by passing huge tax cuts and huge spending increases.

The Republican Party is intent on deporting millions of people who provide essential and honest labor for the economy.

The Republican Party rigidly blocks any effort to prevent the proliferation of assault-style weapons which are being used to murder the nation’s children in their classrooms.

The Republican Party is trying to win elections by supporting efforts to suppress voting among minority groups across the country.

I understand there are many conscientious Republican voters who are also disturbed by those trends. ?They? may not like all the Democrats’ ideas, but unless the Republican Party suffers a significant electoral defeat, it will continue to lead the nation down a very dangerous path.

People can respond by voting against the broken Republican Party. Force the party to regroup and assume the responsibility of governing with integrity.

Bill Frayer, Lewiston