How Will O.C. Republicans Vote?

Re “Central O.C. Candidates Begin Testing Waters Early,” July 14:

As politicians gird their loins for the 1998 primary elections, one wonders if this will be the election when the “Great Awakening” occurs.

That is, when Republican voters decide that they are fed up with the religious right who have taken over the Republican Party in Orange County and who offer only religious right candidates such as Robert K. Dornan, Dana Rohrabacher, Scott Baugh and Rob Hurtt.

Given the fact that no moderate Republican would-be candidate has a chance to run, how many Republicans will vote Democratic this election as they did in the last election when Loretta Sanchez was elected?

And since the majority of registered Republicans in Orange County are middle class, it might even occur to them that the Democrats, demonized over the last two decades as bleeding heart liberals, are actually far greater defenders of the middle class than the Republicans.

Just look at the current crop of Republican politicians who continue to [try] to cut taxes for their rich donors while the middle class continues to bear the lion’s share of the tax burden--and the gap between the rich and poor continues to widen.

How many Orange County Republicans really want the wall broken down between church and state in our nation and have government meddling in religious issues?

How many Republicans believe in forcing every woman or girl to be forced to give birth if they get pregnant? And how many Republicans really want the proliferation of private ownership of assault rifles to continue?

Maybe it’s time for some Republicans to throw off the peer pressure that envelops them here in Orange County and stand up and vote for what they really believe in.

JAMES R. GALLAGHER

Huntington Beach