Reader's View: Republican control will squander all our gains

Republicans have in recent years controlled most of the state governorships and legislatures. They control the U.S. congressional House and Senate. They have controlled the Supreme Court since 1970. In the court’s Citizens United decision, unlimited amounts of money were unleashed to feed election campaigns.
The most recent Republican president started the longest war in U.S. history in Afghanistan but failed to find al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden. That president even said he wasn’t concerned about bin Laden. He and the neocons also convinced our nation to invade Iraq, which, among other catastrophic results, gave birth to ISIS. The two wars are thought to have already cost more than $4 trillion. And, during that president’s term, we did happen to have the worst economic upheaval since the Great Depression.  
Since the election of Democrat Barack Obama, the stock market, real estate and economy have recovered, and unemployment has gone down rather sharply. We’ve also wound down the two wars somewhat.
And now we have elected another Republican president who has said he would nominate a Supreme Court justice who opposes abortion. He is, perhaps, the first president in history who would say there is a litmus test for Supreme Court nominations.
Jim Waldo
Duluth