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We welcome your comments. Send them to [email protected], or post them on our website, rochestercitynewspaper.com, our Facebook page, or our Twitter feed, @roccitynews. For our print edition, we select comments from all three sources; those of fewer than 350 words have a greater chance of being published, and we do edit selections for publication in print. We don't publish comments sent to other media.

The new Republicans

Now that we have seen huge cuts proposed to many federal social programs that help millions of Americans, people may finally be ready to consider the fact that today's Republican Party and especially the Republicans in Congress are different from those we remember in the 1950's and 1960's.

Having studied "Conservative" political thought for the past 40 years, it is my conclusion that a lot of "Conservatives" in 2017 USA (but not all) do not believe that the federal government should spend one cent on any social programs that help people, including Social Security.

It gives me no pleasure to say this. I just believe that people who have warm and caring hearts, who have compassion for others, who believe that government should try to help people who are struggling in life (in other words, "liberals" and "progressives") need to be informed and accept the fact that this is so. This is what we are dealing with and will continue to deal with in the future.

STEW EPSTEIN

Changing parties

It has been 40-plus years that I have been a registered Republican. I have rarely voted outside the party line for political offices. Every presidential election from Richard Nixon's second term through Mitt Romney, I voted for the Republican candidate.

In 2016 I voted, but not for Donald Trump. My stomach, like many others', churned at the thought of this inexperienced, new politician becoming a "fake" president.

Even now, I am sick with the thought that Trump has the right to let his ego-sized portrait hang in the White House alongside legitimate presidents. Everything he has said or done, as the Republican candidate and now as the president, makes me regret I voted in 2016 as a registered Republican.

Since he became president, it has all been "Make Trump Great." His attacks on the media, his refusal to acknowledge any Russian collusion, and so many more other unpresidential things make me want to see him impeached.

As an evangelical Christian, I don't support my evangelical brethren's giving their approval to the Trump presidency for any reason.

Trump's party today seems to have forgotten the Republican role model of what a "real" president is suppose to act like. They have forgotten Abraham Lincoln.

My wife has always been a declared independent. She sees Donald Trump as I do. So, being thoroughly disgusted with the GOP, I am considering changing my party to one that has fully separated itself from Donald Trump and his "fake" presidency.

DOUGLAS W. ALLEN

The future of Parcel 5

This is Main Street. Why would you want to put a "dark box" on it? The theater proposal means that the location would be closed for nearly half the year when events aren't occurring. We need something vibrant and active in that space. We don't need another project to endlessly subsidize. This space is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity in the heart of our city to change the dynamic. Let's not rush into something in the dark.

KELLY CHEATLE