To the Editor,

I strongly disagree with your Oct. 27 endorsement of Allan Fung for Congress. Despite his commendable record as mayor of Cranston, the adage that “all politics is local” does not apply in this mid-term election, which has severe national implications.

The GOP has made it clear that, under the leadership of Kevin McCarthy (who Fung will follow, whether he likes it or not) they will continue to pursue their extremist ideology by dismantling our hard-won democracy and individual rights. This is not my parents’ GOP, so-called “Eisenhower Republicans” who firmly believed in equality, fiscal conservatism and social moderation. They worked to help build this country’s economy and democracy; my dad put his life on the line doing convoy duty aboard a Navy destroyer in the North Atlantic during World War II. Unfortunately, there’s nothing “moderate” about this current bunch of Republicans who are in lock-step to bizarre leaders and ideologies and beholden to corporate lobbyists (in the 1960s there were a mere hundred or so lobbyists in Washington; today there are some 25,000 wielding their influence on 535 members of Congress -- do the math). Prior to moving to Warwick in 2005, I lived and worked in 11 other states and four foreign countries, and have had the opportunity to see what non-representative government looks like in places like (“post-communist”) Eastern Europe and Ukraine.

Many Americans, myself included, don’t truly appreciate how good we have it in this country (“spoiled rotten” as my mom used to say). But should the GOP take over the House, as predicted, and quite possibly the Senate, all of us -- not just those who believe in social fairness and good governance -- will suffer the consequences from policies enacted by these mean-spirited bullies (common-sense mom again: “The rich get richer and the poor have children”). An oft-quoted Chinese proverb states “May you live in interesting times,” which I would update to read: “May you beware of living in dangerous times.”

Folks, you really think the liberal/progressive Dems are dangerous extremists? Just wait until the GOP takes over.

Peter Carney

Warwick