Letters to the Editor
November 2025
Many years ago, I disappointed my mother and she said, “I will always love you, but right now I don’t like you very much!” That is how I currently feel about America. I will always love my country, but right now I don’t like it very much.
I love America, but I don’t like that the man we elected President is allowing chaos, corruption, and cruelty to dominate his administration. I love America, but I will always join those who protest a would-be dictator who seeks only to enrich himself through thinly veiled threats of blackmail and pay-to-play bribery. I love America, but I cannot support a man who repeatedly lies and spreads misinformation. I love America, but I cannot trust the current conman-in-chief.
I love America, but I cannot approve of poorly trained heavily armed masked men roaming our streets, terrorizing our children, and abducting people who may look different in the name of public safety and secure borders. I love America, but I am embarrassed by the sheer incompetence of those appointed to leadership roles of important military, law enforcement and regulatory agencies.
I love America, but I am tired of the gaslighting, and divisive rhetoric spewed by those we have elected to represent us in both Washington and Lansing. I love America, but I am not afraid to challenge elected officials who refuse to speak truth to power. I love America, but I do not like my congressman who rejoices when 2000+ manufacturing jobs disappear from his rural district and refuses to meet with his constituents in a public town hall.
I love America but dislike our government bailing out Argentina while family farmers go bankrupt and children go hungry with no access to food stamps. I love America but worry about how my younger friends burdened with debt and working for stagnant wages will pay for groceries, healthcare, childcare, or buy a home. I love America, but I am sad that so many Americans are living paycheck to paycheck while the ultra-rich eat cake and swill champaign and party like it’s the “roaring twenties” in Mar-a-Lago.
John Helge, Chair
MI 2nd Congressional District Democratic Party
Many years ago, I disappointed my mother and she said, “I will always love you, but right now I don’t like you very much!” That is how I currently feel about America. I will always love my country, but right now I don’t like it very much.
I love America, but I don’t like that the man we elected President is allowing chaos, corruption, and cruelty to dominate his administration. I love America, but I will always join those who protest a would-be dictator who seeks only to enrich himself through thinly veiled threats of blackmail and pay-to-play bribery. I love America, but I cannot support a man who repeatedly lies and spreads misinformation. I love America, but I cannot trust the current conman-in-chief.
I love America, but I cannot approve of poorly trained heavily armed masked men roaming our streets, terrorizing our children, and abducting people who may look different in the name of public safety and secure borders. I love America, but I am embarrassed by the sheer incompetence of those appointed to leadership roles of important military, law enforcement and regulatory agencies.
I love America, but I am tired of the gaslighting, and divisive rhetoric spewed by those we have elected to represent us in both Washington and Lansing. I love America, but I am not afraid to challenge elected officials who refuse to speak truth to power. I love America, but I do not like my congressman who rejoices when 2000+ manufacturing jobs disappear from his rural district and refuses to meet with his constituents in a public town hall.
I love America but dislike our government bailing out Argentina while family farmers go bankrupt and children go hungry with no access to food stamps. I love America but worry about how my younger friends burdened with debt and working for stagnant wages will pay for groceries, healthcare, childcare, or buy a home. I love America, but I am sad that so many Americans are living paycheck to paycheck while the ultra-rich eat cake and swill champaign and party like it’s the “roaring twenties” in Mar-a-Lago.
John Helge, Chair
MI 2nd Congressional District Democratic Party
October 2025
Are you getting 10-15 emails a day from candidates or political action committees begging you for money? I wonder why I get emails from candidates running in Texas or Massachusetts asking me to support their election campaigns. It is true that I want Democrat candidates to win over Republicans primarily because the historical Republican party of conservative values and rule of law has ceased to exist replaced by a cult of personality apparently focused on dismantling our constitutional rights and social safety net programs in favor of a dictatorship based on chaos, corruption, and cruelty.
I will not contribute to those deserving Democrats running for office in other states or even to Democrats running for election that will not be representing me in Lansing or Washington. I have resolved to keep my money local to support the down-ballot local and regional candidates who I rely on to make important decisions that will impact me, my family, my friends, and my neighbors’ quality of life. I will contribute to my local Democratic party organization because they have proven to be good stewards using my dollars to be more visible and active in the community working to find and support candidates who dedicated themselves to social, economic, and environmental justice for all, not just those who voted for them or contributed to their campaigns.
I want to get money out of politics. There is a ballot measure petition circulating to require legislation prohibiting Michigan utility companies and state contractors from contributing to campaigns of state legislators or state-wide offices. That is a good start, but the money from the large corporations and wealthy people that just received another huge tax break continues to influence those who make decisions on future taxation and regulation.
2026 incumbents will have huge war chests to remain in power. Challengers who bring fresh ideas and positive energy will rely on grassroots support. These challengers are the candidates that deserve your money, your support, and your vote. Look for them, listen to them, and resolve to support them rather than one of those slick email pleas for money.
John Helge, Chair
MI 2nd Congressional District Democratic Party
August 2025
The current Michigan legislature has the dubious distinction of being the least productive legislature in Lansing in the past 85 years! This is on the heels of the 2022-2024 legislative session that saw record numbers of bills signed into law. What could have happened to cause such a radical change in legislative capabilities? The apparent answer is that the Michigan state house is now controlled by a majority of Republican representatives while the state senate is controlled by a one-vote majority of Democrats. The prior highly productive session was under Democrat majorities in both chambers.
I had the pleasure of being the only constituent to show up for Representative Curt Vanderwall’s recent listening session in Manistee. I appreciated the opportunity to have Mr. Vanderwall to myself and I hope he agrees that we had a meaningful conversation about the challenges of working in Lansing. My first question was about the missing state budget that was due on July 1st. Curt tried to blame it on the Democrats in the Senate but when I reminded him that the holdup was in the House and we elected him and others to communicate, collaborate, and compromise for the greater good of all Michigan residents, he agreed that it was hard to push against his party’s leadership in the House that is apparently focused on retribution against the Democrats.
The Michigan House Republican leaders appear to be threatening a state government shutdown if they don’t get their way with this budget. They want to slash public school funding providing nutrition for students, stop extra funding for rural school districts bus fuel, and stop funds used to compete and attract manufacturing jobs to Michigan. Members of both parties we elected to represent us in Lansing will also have to wrangle with how to fill a billion dollar hole in the Michigan budget caused by the federal tax breaks to millionaires, cuts to Medicaid and threats to close rural hospitals. I predict Republicans will delay, put a budget on the table on September 30, and blame the Democrats when it doesn’t pass.
John Helge, Chair
MI 2nd Congressional District Democratic Party
July 2025
Three words sum up the performance of the current Trump administration. Chaos, corruption, and cruelty!
The chaos is purposeful and intended to distract us from the rapid dismantling of established federal government agencies and programs that have proven to benefit the greater good of all Americans. Tariffs are on/off then on again. Prices at the grocery store and gas pump remain high despite campaign promises that he alone will fix it. Do you remember he promised to end the wars in Ukraine and Gaza within days of his inauguration? When Wall Street goes up he claims it for his own. When our retirement funds go down he blames it on Biden. Business leaders are holding up on expansion and hiring due to the instability of our government.
Corruption is rampant in the avalanche of executive orders that seek to usurp the separation of powers and make the executive branch into a pseudo-monarchy. The Trump family is unashamedly profiting with shady crypto-currency deals and a golden cell phone to complement their gold colored watches, sneakers, and trading cards. The inner circle of MAGA acolytes are buying and selling stocks based on their insider knowledge of pending actions by their cult leader. Revenge and retribution are at the forefront to punish those who have resisted Trump in the past. Supporters and sycophants are rewarded with no-bid government contracts. Spineless members of the legislative branch are kept silent for fear of losing their power to an opponent financed by billionaires who want more tax breaks.
Cruelty is exemplified by the actions of the so-called leaders of the Department of Homeland Security and ICE. The campaign promise of the largest mass deportation of criminals who entered this country illegally has morphed into the abduction and disappearance of anyone with brown/black skin regardless of their citizenship status. Toleration of the genocide in Gaza and now direct US military involvement in the Iran/Israeli war also exemplifies the cruelty of this administration. The draft dodger-in-chief only wants to play soldier while our sons and daughters are the ones put in harm’s way.
America deserves better than this!
John Helge, Chair
MI 2nd Congressional District Democratic Party
May 2025
The chaos, corruption, and cruelty of the executive branch of the US government has been breathtaking in its ineptitude during the first 100 days of the MAGA administration. The “dear leader” blithely continues his golf pursuits racking up $30+ million in travel and security costs so far. His family has benefited amassing an estimated $2 billion in US dollars selling and trading shady crypto currency. Many of the worthless “$Trump” meme coins were bought by foreign agencies in a brazen attempt to gain access to the oval office. In spite of the DOGE chainsaw the federal government under Trump spent more taxpayer dollars in his first 100 days than any other administration. His cabinet and advisors, dominated by twenty-three Fox News alums, are better at praising their cult leader than they are at managing their assigned government functions.
His Homeland Security chief has bankrupted her organization spending tax dollars on multimillion dollar TV ads starring her complete with perfect hair and makeup playing dress up in a uniform she has not qualified to wear or posing in front of jailed migrants unconstitutionally sent to a foreign prison. During these 100 days she has deported fewer undocumented migrants than the Biden administration. Her masked ICE storm troopers are now snatching US citizens and properly documented foreign visitors off the streets to meet their quotas.
The Defense Department spends more taxpayer dollars than any federal agency and its bumbling tattooed leader also insists that his hair and makeup are TV ready. He refuses to follow basic security protocols putting US troops in danger while blaming everyone else for the Pentagon chaos caused by his lack of management skills.
Because federal programs are being defunded and experienced bureaucrats are being fired, our federal government will eventually experience the curated failures designed to align with Project 2025. Our social, economic, and environmental safety nets will disappear, and we will be abandoned to carry on regardless. Elected representatives like John Moolenaar are simply too afraid of MAGA to act. We WILL fix this in November of 2026 when we elect a courageous representative of the people.
John Helge, Chair
MI 2nd Congressional District Democratic Party
April 2025
“Flood the zone! Keep them distracted so they are not able to focus on any single issue. We are going to purge the federal government of those who don’t support Trump. We are going to restructure the Justice Department to prosecute our political opponents.” Steve Bannon, convicted felon.
“Project 2025 is systematically preparing to march into office and bring a new army, aligned, trained, and essentially weaponized conservatives ready to do battle against the deep state.” Paul Dans, Project 2025 Co-author. Many Americans are rightly shocked and awed at the Elon Musk led destruction of our federal government in the name of “efficiency.” The tactics of selecting a chain saw over a scalpel to “move fast and break things” by a band of computer nerds is not uncovering documentable fraud and waste as much as it is simply destroying government programs and services that have become integral to the life and well-being of millions of Americans.
Those of us who took the time to read and study Project 2025 see this 950+ page detailed strategy being implemented virtually verbatim by the leader of the executive branch who, on the campaign trail, declared it to be an absolute hoax that he would ever embrace this document. Yes, we know he lies virtually every time he opens his mouth, but you can now count on the fact that this lazy lout will enthusiastically embrace the ultra-conservative white, Christian nationalist game plan that was so neatly laid out for him ahead of time.
Our current president is nothing but a useful fool in the global strategies of Putin and other fascist dictators. He is succeeding in ruining our great nation from within by spreading fear and division. In less than 90 days he has made the United States an untrustworthy partner in business or diplomacy.
Those we elected to represent us in the co-equal congressional branch of our federal government refuse to step up and challenge this descent into fascistic oligarchy hell. They have gleefully abdicated their responsibility to protect and defend our democratic constitutional rule of law. History will judge them harshly!
John Helge, Chair
MI 2nd Congressional District Democratic Party
“Flood the zone! Keep them distracted so they are not able to focus on any single issue. We are going to purge the federal government of those who don’t support Trump. We are going to restructure the Justice Department to prosecute our political opponents.” Steve Bannon, convicted felon.
“Project 2025 is systematically preparing to march into office and bring a new army, aligned, trained, and essentially weaponized conservatives ready to do battle against the deep state.” Paul Dans, Project 2025 Co-author. Many Americans are rightly shocked and awed at the Elon Musk led destruction of our federal government in the name of “efficiency.” The tactics of selecting a chain saw over a scalpel to “move fast and break things” by a band of computer nerds is not uncovering documentable fraud and waste as much as it is simply destroying government programs and services that have become integral to the life and well-being of millions of Americans.
Those of us who took the time to read and study Project 2025 see this 950+ page detailed strategy being implemented virtually verbatim by the leader of the executive branch who, on the campaign trail, declared it to be an absolute hoax that he would ever embrace this document. Yes, we know he lies virtually every time he opens his mouth, but you can now count on the fact that this lazy lout will enthusiastically embrace the ultra-conservative white, Christian nationalist game plan that was so neatly laid out for him ahead of time.
Our current president is nothing but a useful fool in the global strategies of Putin and other fascist dictators. He is succeeding in ruining our great nation from within by spreading fear and division. In less than 90 days he has made the United States an untrustworthy partner in business or diplomacy.
Those we elected to represent us in the co-equal congressional branch of our federal government refuse to step up and challenge this descent into fascistic oligarchy hell. They have gleefully abdicated their responsibility to protect and defend our democratic constitutional rule of law. History will judge them harshly!
John Helge, Chair
MI 2nd Congressional District Democratic Party