Not cooperating is a tea party tenet

I am responding to the letter “Gridlock due to Democrats”: The writer may lay much of the gridlock in the House on Democrats, but if he were to review articles in local and national newspapers he would find that tea party candidates in this state and others essentially stated during primary elections in 2010 that they were “not going to extend their hand across the aisles of the House” to work with Democrats. One such candidate in this state was Clint Didier. The Herald can research this as Mr Didier and others repeatedly stated this. The tea party essentially came to power with an attitude of “our way or no way.”

The tea party has repeatedly made an effort to not fund almost anything except continued action in Afghanistan or repeated votes to abolish the Affordable Care Act. Both sides need to work together, both sides may have good ideas and both sides will not always get what they want. Our own state had produced many great politicians who worked with the other party in helping citizens of this state and the country. Former governor and Sen. Dan Evans, Sen. Slade Gorton, Sen. Patty Murray, Congressman Joel Pritchard, congressman and Sen. Henry “Scoop” Jackson. All these people didn’t stop being Democrats or Republicans, but they worked together to find solutions. I do not see that with the tea party. Political purity and ideology only go so far.

Steve Arnhold

Freeland

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