To the editor:

In the spirit of bipartisanship, I took the advice of Mr. Erich Haslehurst of the Bristol Democratic Town Committee, as per his previous letter, to get involved; so, I attended the town hall held at Portsmouth Middle School on April 21.

The auditorium was like the harbor during a gale, a whole bunch of restless whitecaps. Attendees presumably took their early bird specials home in doggy bags to make the 5:30 start time.

Comparing Florida’s present to Rhode Island’s future regarding climate change, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse used the phrase “the coming attractions,” which nobody under 30 would get. Rep. Gabe Amo, who sounds more and more like Obama every time I hear him speak, was a soothing presence, the Pawtucket native’s Midwestern vowels reminding the Trump-addled boomers of simpler times. (Let’s hope diction is not destiny.) And, oh, Sen. Jack Reed was there, too.

When the floor was opened to questions, a very brave man held the three officials to task for their party’s bellicose rhetoric, a la Maxine Waters, against Trumpers. Ignoring the fact that disgruntled lefties are keying Teslas en masse, the legislators replied that they wish the Right would do better to keep the peace. Your kids (or your grandkids) would call this sort of lazy dodge a “no u.”

The highlight of the evening, for me, came when the bald gaffer sitting — funny coincidence — on my left castigated me for not clapping enough. I pointed out that I hadn’t heckled anybody either, to which he rejoined that I was “too quiet, which is worse.”

Last week was a busy one for the DNC. On Monday, as I mentioned, legislators gathered the elderly for scary ghost stories about Social Security and Medicare in Portsmouth. Then, on Thursday, in Providence, the young were corralled at Fish Co. where David “Camera” Hogg stirred the pot with talk about throwing over Democrat incumbents for radical progressives. An altercation broke out at Fish Co. after Hogg’s event; was it infighting within the party of civility, or a random act of diversity?

I had a lot of fun following Haslehurst’s advice and I’d encourage Democrat voters to do the same; get involved, attend meetings. If they do, they might cotton on to what their party is really up to and follow their fellow defectors into groups like the Bristol County Concerned Citizens.

Furthermore, in the short term, I hope Democrat voters are very active. It’ll give their grandsons, students and poolboys a chance to check out the Bristol Young Republicans unharassed by the elderly. We meet on the last Thursday of the month, at 7 p.m., on the second floor of the Lincoln Club, at 9 Saint Elizabeth St.

Zachary Cooper
48A Sherman Ave.

Cooper is vice chairman of the Bristol Young Republicans.