To the editor:
Recently, Fox News commentator and host Jesse Watters made some remarks that I could not ignore. First, he stated that he had heard “that scientists said … that when a man votes for a woman, he actually transitions into a woman.” The ridiculousness of that statement is so obvious that it doesn’t deserve any response.
However, Watters followed that inane statement with this doozy: “[The Democratic Party] is not the party of virtue, security; it’s not the party of strength; it’s definitely not the party of family.”
First, these comments offend me as a Democrat. I’m not sure what kinds of “security” Mr. Watters is referring to, but I do know that any threats to security I feel come because of Republican threats to reproductive and voting rights. Because of the possibility for a Republican president to make a frighteningly conservative Supreme Court even more conservative. Because of Republican plans, laid out in Project 2025, to expand the power of the American presidency into basically an imperial office. Crime rates are down; job numbers are up; Biden legislation gives us some hope for a healthier environment. I could go on, but I will simply say that the fears I have for the future do not originate with the Democratic Party. Quite the opposite.
But what REALLY offends me about Mr. Watters’s remarks is his attempt to attack Democrats as lacking virtue and family values. I was offended as a Democrat, but also as an Appalachian woman — a proud Appalachian woman. I grew up in a close-knit family that believed in the frequently mentioned traits highlighted in a collection of essays entitled “Appalachian Values”: “freedom, religion, independence, self-reliance, pride, neighborliness, hospitality, familism, personalism, humility, love of place, patriotism, sense of beauty, and sense of humor.” In my family, the pursuit of education was also considered a virtue, but the dominant virtue of all was always prioritizing family.
So, when I heard Mr. Watters’s statement, I thought, “How dare you?” Republicans do not have a lock on virtue. In fact, no single group can claim superior virtue to any other. Once again, Mr. Watters sounded completely inane.
Many Republican politicians and pundits insist on riling up their base by references to cultural issues, and far too often, their ideas are inaccurate or totally made up. It is only when we debate policy issues, and stop ridiculous culture judgments, that we can begin to make well-reasoned decisions in our elections.
Stephanie Kight
The Plains
